Eternity of Blood
by Verai
Summary: When Heero is turned into a vampire, and Duo discovers his latent necromantic talents, their world and relationship is turned on its head. And with a new underworld threat appearing, how will the pilots adapt to this new danger?
1. Chapter 1

I was reading this great fic called Acherontia Atropos by "someone" (I don't remember!), and I was also reading this book called Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton, and I got an idea for a fic. Both are very good stories, I suggest you read the fic and buy the book. The vampire information is sorta made up by me, and sorta taken from various vamp stories, so please don't yell at me for getting something wrong. Chances are that I messed with the facts on purpose. Anyway, enough rambling, on with the fic! BTW, this is my first GW fic, there is some violence, strong language and it has the yaoi pairings of DuoxHeero, and QuatrexTrowa. So if you don't like male/male pairings, then don't read this!

**Eternity of Blood**

**Part 1**

**By: Top Ace**

I walked down the street with my buddies from the war. Trowa Barton, the apathetic guy with REALLY good balance (you should have seen him at our last party; he drank five shots but you couldn't tell) and Quatre Raberba Winner, the empathic boy with the heart of the universe. They walked hand in hand, looking into each other's eyes. Wufei Chang, justice boy. He had calmed down a lot in the past few years. He's even settled down with Sally and they're expecting their first child in a few months. He calmly walked with us, glasses in his pocket and a book in his hand. Heero Yuy, no longer the Perfect Soldier, but still rough on the edges. But once you got inside... Well, anyway. Then there's me. Duo Maxwell, Shinigami! At least for vampires. Maybe I should explain.

I've always had an affinity for the dead. I always identified myself with death, with dying and these sorts of things. It wasn't until I got attacked by a vampire that I realized that I wasn't just Shinigami by name... I was also by blood. Usually, if you look into the eyes of a vampire, you get "turned", put under their control. I didn't. Well, the vampire wasn't too happy about this, and tried to kill me. Good thing it saw the cross I keep on a chain around my neck...

Then a lady named Anita snuck into my apartment that night and told me that I had the ability to be a "slayer," or one who kills vampires. A vampire hunter. Great, I had thought at the time. Which one of the guys had thought this up? Then I got attacked again, by two vampires. Fortunately, Anita was backing me up, and we got rid of them. Vampires are quite powerful, unless you have the right equipment. Holy water, a gun loaded with silver bullets and a couple of crosses usually do the trick, unless they're really powerful vamps. Then you'd be dead.

Anita snuck into my apartment again (I've been meaning to change the locks, but I don't think it'll matter) and told me that I had some connection with the dead. She was very vague, no details whatsoever. All she said was to be careful and to watch my back. She even gave me a gun, two actually, a Browning and a 9mm Firestar. I keep the Browning on a holster on my bedpost. The Firestar is always on me whenever I go out. Not that I'm paranoid or anything. But the thought of being attacked by another vamp makes one cautious, you see. I would have liked a shotgun too, but she said that I probably wouldn't need it... yet. Great.

Nothing weird had happened since then. Now I was just a normal 20-year old, chilling out with my friends and carrying a gun. Yup, that was normality.

Back to the present. Heero was walking in front of me, that usual tensed up gait that he had, as if something was stalking him. I should be the one with that walk, I thought. He doesn't have to worry about vampires. All five of us walked along, enjoying the day. Well, all of us except Heero. He always seemed like he hated to be around us or something.

*SCREECH!*

The screeching of tires brought me back from my musing. The car was headed straight for us. We ran. "Hey, where's Heero?" Quatre asked. My eyes widened and I twirled around. Heero just stood there, looking straight ahead. "You stupid fool! You're gonna get killed!" He jumped...

That boy never ceases to amaze me. He landed right on the hood, and punched through the glass. "Jeez..." I muttered as I watched him pull out the driver. I began to breathe a sigh of relief, when I saw that the car was still running. It ran into a pole, Heero flying from the hood. "HEERO!"

There was so much blood. Heero and the guy who had been aiming his car for us were leaking blood all around. I scooped Heero into my arms. I felt his neck. No pulse. I refused to believe he was dead. He had lived through so much... He couldn't be dead. I held him close, but his neck lolled to one side. I looked at his neck, so pale, so inviting...

Before I knew it, I had my fangs (!) sunk into his neck. I had no control. I just felt his life blood flowing through me, giving me life. My conscience screamed, No! This isn't right! But my body wouldn't give up, I just kept taking his blood, taking his life. It felt like an eternity, just sitting there, his body next to mine, his sweet blood flowing down my throat.

I finally stopped. I felt my teeth. The fangs had disappeared as mysteriously as they had appeared. I looked at Heero. His eyes fluttered, then shot wide open.

"Am I still alive?"  
"Uh... Sort of."  
"Oh. What the hell did you do to me?"  
"I resurrected your soul and immortalized your body. Now you have to drink blood to stay stable."  
"Ah." *Faint*

It was the first time I had seen Heero faint. Then it hit me. What the hell have I done? What was it... what had I said? Oh, yeah. The stuff about the resurrecting of souls, immortalizing of bodies and drinking blood. Oh, that.

*Faint*

I woke up in my apartment. Or I thought it was my apartment, until I looked over and saw that the walls were peach and not beige. "This isn't my apartment, is it?" I asked to the air. Quatre's soothing voice came to my ears.

"We're at my house."  
"Which one?"  
"The one nearest your apartment."

Oh, that one. The one on the coast, overlooking San Francisco Bay. I got up and looked around. "Where's Heero?"

"He's here." Trowa walked in, Quatre reaching out for him. "He's in the room next door, but he's still unconscious." I jumped out of bed and raced for his room.

Heero lay on his back, his face totally peaceful. He looked so content when he was asleep, like he was dreaming of a different life, but sad as well. Then when he's awake he acts like he's superior to the rest of us, like he was soiling himself by being in our presence. But somehow, I managed to fall in love with that bastard. I smiled, looking at his serene yet melancholy expression. I was about to give him a small kiss when his eyes shot opened. He has a tendency of doing that. Whenever my eyes shoot open, I get a blast of light and I have to close them again. He just stared at me. Right through me...

"Uh, hi Heero!"  
"What are you doing so close to my face?"  
"Just... just checking for wounds or anything like that..."  
"You're lying."  
"What?"  
"You're lying. Tell me why you're really in my face."

I paused for moment. How could he have known? I admit, he does see through others a lot more clearly than we do, but usually he either doesn't know or just plain ignores it when I lie. This time, he demanded the truth.

"Well?"  
"..." For once I was speechless.  
He grabbed my shirt. "Tell me."  
"'Cause I wanted to kiss you." _Why the hell did I tell him that? He... He has the eyes of a vampire...Oh shit._

Heero released me. "Oh." He turned over on the bed, his back facing me. I felt like my world had just shattered. But I still had hope. "You... You don't hate me, do you Heero?" Heero turned back around to face me, his blue eyes piercing me. "I don't hate you." That was all he said before he turned back around and fell asleep. My hope blossomed.

That week, I decided to track down Anita. She had mysteriously left my life as she had entered it. I needed her help, and I needed it now. I asked around, and I got a couple of leads, but they all led nowhere. Dammit.

It wasn't until three days after the accident that the side affects of the "resurrection" were starting to become apparent. Heero would wander around, his eyes lost. Whenever one of us wanted to talk to him, he just looked at us as if he was looking through a window. Then he would keep walking. Always walking, like a zombie. Jesus Christ, I did NOT want to think about zombies. Heero also looked paler than usual. MUCH paler.

"Hey Heero, are you okay?" Heero looked at me, no, THROUGH me, and I shuddered.  
"I need blood."  
I did a double take. "Wha... what? You need blood?"  
He nodded. I looked down at the floor for a moment, then I looked back at him, into his eyes. _God, his eyes look so... dead..._ "I'll give you some of my blood." Even as I said it, I couldn't believe what I was going to do. I was going to let Heero drink me.

He walked over to me, looking straight at me this time. His eyes could have bored a hole in gundanium. I stepped back, and he shot a hand towards me. I gasped. He grabbed my shoulder and pulled me towards him. Heero's lips ran across my neck, slow, seductive. "Dammit Heero, what are you doing?"

Heero pulled his head back from nuzzling my neck to look at me. "I'm _preparing_ you."  
"Pre... Preparing me? For what?"  
"To bite you."  
"Oh... my god..." My throat went dry as Heero's eyes turned cold, predatory. He looked at me like I was his dinner. What am I talking about? I WILL be his dinner, in a few moments.

"Oh God, oh God, what have I done, oh God..." I prayed incessantly, in hopes that he wouldn't kill me. His lips returned to my neck, soft, delicate, and oh so gentle. This was the last thing I expected from Heero Yuy. As he left little kisses on the nape of my neck, I felt my skin electrify and become burning hot. "Don't worry," he nearly purred, "this won't hurt a bit..." I clenched involuntarily as he sunk his fangs into my neck.

Waves of pleasure pulsed through me. I knew what was going on. My blood, my life force was being sucked out of me. But I couldn't stop it. I didn't want to. I guess it was a reward for being the victim. I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of Heero's mouth on me...

The pleasure stopped abruptly. "Heero?" He let go of my shoulder and took a step away from me. Blood, my blood, flowed down his chin. I resisted the urge to lick it off. Who says I don't have any self-control?

Heero wiped his chin with the back of his hand, then licked it off. All the while he was pinning me under his cobalt stare. I couldn't look away. Anita had told me that since I'm somehow related to the dead, I have at least a partial immunity to vamps. Then why was Heero in complete control? But I had no time to ponder that question, since I passed out from blood loss.

I was in a cave. A dark, damp cave. I heard the sound of water dripping. Around me, the cave was glowing slightly, probably from some glowing lichen or something. A voice echoed through the cavern. "Duo... Duo..." I traveled towards the voice. My steps made sloshy sounds in the dark. The voice got louder. "Duo... My son..."  
"Father Maxwell?"  
"My son..."  
I started running towards the voice. When I found the source, I regretted having run here in the first place. Before me stood a man, pale, about 6 or 7 feet tall. Yeah, I'm really bad at estimating heights. But he was way taller than me and he looked menacing, so I just kept my distance. "Who are you?" I asked.  
"Your father."  
"Whoa, what? My father? You've gotta be kidding." I looked into his eyes, and I saw violet eyes. My eyes. It was like looking into a mirror. "No... This is just a dream, you can't be my dad."  
The man nodded. "I am your father, and I need your help. You have my power. Please help me..."  
I shook my head violently. "NO! I won't help someone who claims to be my father. Just leave me alone! I want outta here!"

The figure lifted a hand. I was suddenly frozen. I couldn't move a muscle. Fear flowed through my veins and made my heart beat like loud drum. He glided towards me and put a hand on my head. He touched my hair, running his fingers through it lightly, like a father would a son. "Your hair is like your mother's... She was beautiful, you know," he started to say. "She brought light into my world. Her hair was long like yours, and she would always braid it in gorgeous fashions. But what drew me to her the most was her personality. She saw everything as having a good side. She could see no evil. I guess that's why she didn't fear me when I bumped into her at a party. While everyone else had backed away from me, she took my hand and asked me to dance. I fell in love at that moment." He paused, looking into my eyes. "You have my eyes. You know it's true. Please, believe me."

For some reason, I felt it wise to believe him, for now. "Alright, let's say you ARE my father. Why did you leave me as an orphan, and why do you need me help?"

He smiled. "I did not have much of a choice. I'm dead."  
"Well, you weren't dead when you conceived me, right?"  
He shook his head.  
"You WERE dead?"  
He nodded.  
"Oh boy... Alrighty then, explain yourself." I was starting to feel giddy and slightly hysterical. The man, if I could call him that, cleared his throat.

"Ever wonder why you made your love into a vampire? Ever wonder why vampires can't turn you?" I just nodded. "I am Shinigami, title and all. You are my son." My eyes widened just a bit. Wasn't I supposed to be Shinigami? I repeated one of my questions. "Okay, so why do you need my help?" He sighed, like this conversation was getting to him. "I'm getting old, if that's possible. I'm tired of being ruler of the undead. I want you to rule in my place, but the other vampires do not want that. They want a full-blooded vampire to rule. They tire of half-breeds ruling over them."  
"Half-breeds?"  
"I was a necromancer in my life. You do know what that is, right?"  
I nodded. A necromancer was someone who could bring the dead back to life. But only after three days, so that the soul could fly far away from the body. Anita had told me that.  
"So you've met Anita."  
I looked up from my thoughts. "What?" Stupid vamps and their damn mind-reading abilities.  
"She is an expert on supernatural things. I suppose she told you that you are related to the dead somehow, correct?"  
I nodded. I've been doing that a lot lately.  
"I bet she didn't tell you that you were relate TO death, huh?" He chuckled lightly. Then he continued. "I was made into a vampire when a rogue vampire bit me. So now, I am a vampire necromancer. With enough power to resurrect a whole cemetery."

I didn't give a damn about his powers or this entire ordeal, I just wanted out. "I don't care about your freakin' powers, and I don't care if you're my father or not, just get me the hell out of here and back home to" I stopped before I said it out loud, but not before thinking it. He raised an eyebrow. "Who is Heero?" I turned my head in defiance. "Forget it," I nearly growled. Shinigami chuckled again. "As you wish, my son." He snapped his fingers, and suddenly there was this blinding light and I saw no more.

"Ouch..." I woke up in Heero's room this time. My head was pounding. There were spots in my vision. I looked around, trying to regain my sight. _One bite, and Shinigami became a vampire._ I wondered if I would turn into a vampire after Heero's bite. Then my mind registered the touch of someone's arm around me. I moved a bit, and the arm clutched me tighter. I looked around to face the person who was holding me so possessively.

I couldn't believe my eyes. Heero lay there, a content smile on his face. He looked like an angel. You wouldn't believe that he was once a gundam pilot who had killed hundreds of soldiers. My heart melted as I watched him sigh and snuggle into my shoulder. I smiled to myself. _He's so cute..._ I kissed his forehead, and I lingered to look closer. He was so perfect. I turned around fully and put my arms around him. Heero was warm and as I put my ear to his chest, I could hear his heartbeat. Steady as a drum. You couldn't tell that he was an undead vampire. At that thought, I backed off and tried to get out of bed. But with his new vampire strength he held me, and wouldn't let me go. I wanted to be near him, really I did, but I felt scared. Heero now had the power of ten men and probably the blood lust of a hungry lion. I had to get away. If I didn't, I would probably end up being his meal again. I don't think I could survive being a vamp's meal for more than a week. I had to learn more. More about this undead stuff. I had to talk to Anita.

I pushed myself away, but he still wouldn't let me go. I muttered, "Let go," in a commanding tone. Heero's grip softened and let me go. I got out of bed and went for the door. I looked back once, to see the same despondent expression that was on his face since I've known him. My heart felt a slight ping of guilt for leaving him, but he can take care of himself. Really. I put on my coat and I left Quatre's house. I had to find Anita, and find her as soon as possible.

It was late at night, a little past midnight. The last time I had walked outside in the middle of the night was when I got attacked. This time, I had a cross and a gun with silver bullets. Not enough to kill, but it would certainly slow a vamp down long enough for me to get my ass out of there.

"You shouldn't walk around late at night." I turned to look at the owner of that familiar voice. Anita stood in the glow of the streetlight, looking like your everyday vampire hunter. She wore a black shirt and loose fitting blue jeans. A black trench coat covered it all. She was short like me, with shoulder-length wavy black hair and a pale complexion. She probably had a few guns on her, not to mention a couple of knives, silver of course. I smiled a weary smile, and walked towards her. "You know, you're a hard person to find."  
"I try to make it that way."  
I laughed. Then I asked her for more information about my heritage. I also told her about the dream I had. "Hm," Anita said after my story was complete, "Come with me." I followed her, not in the least afraid. Well, maybe just a little.

We went inside her apartment. It was nice and cozy, something you wouldn't expect from someone who killed vamps on a weekly basis. There was a small kitchen to the left, a hallway leading to a bedroom and probably another room in the center, and to the left was the living room. She took off her trench coat and threw it on the sofa in the living room. "Take a load off, you're gonna be here for awhile." I felt kind of uneasy when she said that, but I plopped down on the sofa and propped my feet up on the table. "And don't put your feet on the table," she said from somewhere. I hastily removed them from the table. How do women do that?

Anita returned with an armful of books. Big, nasty textbooks. "Do I have to read those?" She gave me a look that made her look like a teacher. "Yes, you have to read these. Unless you want to go against your enemy without knowing anything about them?" She made it sound like a question, like she was doubting my intelligence. I made the wise choice. I picked up a book and started reading.

It was 2 AM. I had been reading for two hours. Anita was going here and there, cleaning up and tidying up the house. I asked her why she didn't go to sleep. She told me that she sleeps in the day. It's safer that way. I had to agree. But I was a nightsleeper. I seriously needed some sleep. I got up to go when a shiver ran down my neck. I turned to the window, at the same time Anita faced the window and pulled out her gun. There was a silent whoosh, the curtains flew back.

Standing in the moonlight, Heero stared at me. His eyes flicked to Anita, then back at me. His zaffer eyes looked at me reverently. Reverently? Something was definitely wrong.

"Don't move vamp, or I'll blow your heart out." Anita had sensed he was a vampire. Great. "It's okay," I said. "He's... uh... mine... I think." She turned to me. "What?" she exclaimed. I sighed. Then I motioned for Heero to come in. He obeyed. "This is Heero... I sorta created him somehow." Anita just shook her head. "Alright, start explaining." I did.

After I had explained the incident, twice, she sat in the armchair facing me and Heero on the sofa. Heero was staring blankly at her, resting in my lap. He was actually curled up on the sofa, resting his head in my lap, like a cat. I wondered when I had become the master. "So, let me get this straight," Anita said after a long silence. "He," pointing at Heero, "was created by you. However, he had complete control over you until he drank your blood." I nodded. She just closed her eyes. "Well, then what you told me about your dream must be true. You are part necromancer and part vampire." I sighed. I couldn't believe it. But the evidence was sitting in my lap. Literally. Heero turned his eyes up to look into mine. I didn't feel that same feeling of being controlled like the last time he looked at me. In fact, I felt the exact opposite. I was his master and he was mine to control. Mine.

"Okay, so what does me being a necromancer and Heero being under my power have to with anything?"  
"Do you have any idea how a necromancer raises a zombie?"  
I shook my head.

She sighed. Then she gave me a quick lecture about being a necromancer. "Necromancers have to perform a ritual to bring back the dead as a zombie. As you already know, we have to wait three days before we can animate anyone, or else the soul will prevent the body from reawakening. After three days, the soul will fly away, leaving the body free for reanimating. To perform the ritual, you usually have to make a sacrifice. Usually we use chickens, and if the body is more than a couple of decades old, then we use a goat. If the body is centuries old, then usually we need a human sacrifice. But I don't do that, and neither should you. It's murder."

All I did was nod. She continued. "To perform the ritual, you usually have to spread an ointment around your face. It's made of various herbs and such. I can teach you how to make some later. Also spread the ointment on the tombstone. After you've spread the ointment, you need to make the sacrifice and make a circle of blood. This will become a circle of power and no one can leave and no one can enter until you break it. Only the person who made the circle can break it. Then you say some spells. I'll give you a book, you can look it over." I asked, "Why don't you just tell me the spell?" She replied, "Because, he's here." She gestured towards Heero.  
I was puzzled. "What does he have to do with anything?"  
"He's one of the undead. The undead can't hear the animating spell, or they'll go haywire. Let's just say I learned that from experience."

I wasn't going to complain. She handed me the book. "Here," Anita said to Heero as she handed him a pile of books. "Carry these for your master." Heero looked at me and I nodded. He sat up and took the books wordlessly. "Oh yeah, and why is Heero treating me like his master?"

Anita laughed. She actually laughed. "Because, idiot, you let him drink your blood." Heero growled when Anita called me an idiot. She ignored him. "If you resurrect something, and you let it drink your blood, whether it be blood from your own body, or something you recently killed, that creature will be under your control. If it was blood from something you killed, then it will be under your control for three days, or until someone else gives it blood. You will need to feed it again after three days, or it will no longer be under your control. This kind of animation brings up a zombie that isn't very loyal. If it was your own blood, then the undead person or creature will be under your control for three weeks, but you will need to feed it again or it will die... again. These kind of zombies are loyal to you to the death. Did you get all that?"

I shook my head. The majority of it went over my head. "Well, all that information is in the book," she said as she pointed towards the book I was holding. "Good luck." I just nodded and walked out, Heero following me and balancing the books in his arms.

I walked back home, Heero quietly behind me. In fact, he was so quiet, it was like he wasn't there at all. "Oi, Heero. Could ya make some noise or something? It's kinda spooky with you bein' all quiet and stuff." Heero started scuffing his sneakers on the asphalt. "Thanks." We walked on, his shoes scraping along the way...

A step in the darkness caught my attention. It was a loud noise, like when the bad guy steps into the light in a movie. A dramatic sound. I whirled around. Heero was already poised to fight. A shadow smacked right into me. I flew far, maybe ten feet or so, my left shoulder and face scraping against the pavement. I groaned with the pain and touched my face. I had a bleeding scrape on it. I tried to reach for my gun when I saw the figure leap up towards me. I watched as my life flew by...

Another shadow flew across my vision and knocked into my attacker. Whatever it was, it threw the first figure off balance. They both rolled to the side. I tried to get back up, my vision swimming with spots. I watched as the two beings squared off. As the streetlight shone on them, I could pick out one of them as Heero. The other person was a tall man, at least a head taller than Heero. He wore a black long-sleeved shirt, black leather pants and a dark blue bandana on his head. He looked like a gang member turned stripper. They flew at each other, fangs bared and everything. They kept pouncing and clawing at each other. I finally had enough wits to pull out my gun. I aimed at the enemy.

I couldn't pull the trigger. They kept moving too fast for me to get in a good shot. I could barely keep an eye on them; they were just blurs in the night. Every time they entered the spotlight, more and more blood was seen. I worried about Heero's safety. I mean, he was only a vamp... right?

A tearing sound and a moan brought me to full attention. I looked into the light and the stranger had a hand _inside_ Heero's stomach. "No!" I found myself screaming. The other man threw Heero off his hand. He landed in a pile outside of the light, a thunk resounding in the night, then silence. "Damn you!" I raised my gun to fire, but he came too close. He knocked the gun out of my hand and threw me to the ground, him on top of me. My head smashed against the ground. Even with all the spots in my vision, I managed to pull a knife out of my belt. I looked up into the man's face. Fangs protruded out of his maw. I stabbed the knife into his heart. It took at least a second for him to scream. I realized that my cross was now showing, and glowing. "Ha, you want some of this, huh? Ha!" I threw him off me and grabbed my knife out of his heart. He rolled onto the ground. By the time he staggered back up, I had snatched up my gun and I fired it into his heart.

"GRAOOAOWWWW!"

He uttered the creepiest sound I'd ever heard, and he stalked back towards me. "Crap crap crap," I muttered as I continued to fire into his advancing body. He took each hit with so much as a flinch. I was in deep trouble.

*Click, click.* My gun clicked on empty. Shit. My life flashed again for a second time that night.

*CRACK!*

The vamp's head was twisted completely around. I could see the back of his head. Another squishy sound announced the removal of his head. Heero had saved me. He took the head and threw it on the ground. The body fell, face first. Well, you know what I mean. Heero stood in the light, staring at me. He had a bloody stain where his stomach was. His hands were covered with blood and he was still holding the head of my attacker. Blood from scratches flowed around his face, framing it in the streetlight. He looked like an angel covered with blood. Or a devil. I couldn't tell anymore.

* * *

Anita is from the book... I just had to connect my fic and the book somehow... heh... I felt that the beginning of my fic was kinda abrupt, however, I did get further into the story than I thought I would.


	2. Chapter 2

This is Part 2 of this fic. This is my first GW fic, there is some violence, strong language and it has the usual yaoi pairings of DuoxHeero, and QuatrexTrowa. So if you don't like male/male pairings, then don't read this, or pretend that Quatre and Duo are chicks. Okay?

**Eternity of Blood**

**Part 2**

**By: Top Ace**

We got home near dawn. I was dead tired. Heero walked beside me, totally unaffected by the gaping hole in his stomach. Had it gotten smaller? Maybe it was just me. I walked up to the door. I rose my hand to knock, but I didn't get the chance. Quatre opened the door, a look of worry crossing his face. "I was so worried about you two," he cried. I don't blame him for worrying, considering the blood stains on us. Oh, and the hollow pit in Heero's stomach. Yeah, that might cause some worry.

Trowa and Wufei just looked at us quietly. Wufei's eyes glimmered with understanding, like he knew where we had been.

"Late night visit to the library?" Trowa asked calmly. I blinked. I wasn't carrying the book that Anita had given me. "Don't worry," Heero said. "I've got it." He waved the book around with one hand, while balancing the pile of books with his other. I heaved a sigh of relief. "Uh, yeah," I said nervously, "Late night at the library." I trudged in towards my room, Heero following behind me. I could feel three pairs of eyes watching us. I could imagine the look of worry on their faces. Or, at least on one of their faces.

"Um, Heero?" We both turned. Quatre was eyeing Heero's wound. "Don't worry about it," I said. "I'll tell you guys about it tomorrow... er, I mean, later today. Once I get some sleep." The three of them let the subject slide and walked back into the house. I watched them go. "C'mon Heero, I'm tired."

We walked into my room. "Put the books on the dresser, please." I went into the bathroom and took a nice warm shower and got ready for bed. When I came back out, Heero was still standing there. "Heero, you can go now. Do whatever you want." He stared blankly at me. I walked up to him, waving my arms around. "Oi! Did you hear me? Go! Leave me alone!" His eyes fell. I instantly felt a pang of guilt well up inside me. "Oh Heero..." I gave him a hug. He didn't respond. "Let's go to bed."

I grabbed his hand and started dragging him towards the bed. Heero wouldn't budge. "What?" I asked softly. He glanced down towards his stomach. I winced inwardly. "Oh yeah, that." I released his hand and went into the bathroom. I got a towel and ran it under some cold water. I ran back into the room. "Take off your shirt." He did so. He threw the bloodied shirt onto the floor. It left blood stains where it dropped. _Quatre's gonna have a fit,_ I thought. I started wiping away all the blood from around the wound. It hadn't really occurred to me that he could do it himself. Ever since I had changed him, I felt like he was my brain child or something like that. He was something that I had created. Besides, it did give me an excuse to caress his body.

The wound **had** gotten significantly smaller. I guess it wasn't just me. "Heero, how did you..?" Heero shrugged. "I don't know how vampirism works. Look in one of your books." He sounded like the old Heero. I smiled to myself. _He's getting back to normal,_ I thought. A part of me didn't want him to become his normal self again. I kinda liked it with him being my human, er, vampiric slave. However, another part of me sighed with relief. I finished wiping away most of the blood, then I threw the towel and bloody shirt into a hamper and grabbed a book. "The 'Guide to Animating.'" Sounded like fun, but I was tired. I leaped onto the bed and pulled up the covers.

"Ahem." I looked up. Heero was still there, staring at me like a lost little boy. Dammit. "Get over here," I grumbled. He crawled into bed with me, and I put my arms around him. Slowly, he put his arms around me and we fell asleep.

We didn't wake until about four in the afternoon. The first thing I heard was conversation outside of the door. "We shouldn't wake them. Wouldn't that be intruding?" "But what if they had a concussion or something. You saw the scrap marks on their faces." It was the voices of Trowa and Quatre, respectively. I just smiled. "C'mon Heero, wake up. I think it's time we told them what we did last night."

We dragged ourselves out of bed, washed up and opened the door. Trowa and Quatre were still standing there. "Hey you guys," I said cheerfully. "Let's talk. Where's Wufei?" Nonchalantly, Trowa replied, "He's at the hospital with Sally. Said something about an early arrival before he headed out." "Oh," was all I could say. Heero and I walked out of the bedroom and towards the kitchen, Trowa and Quatre following us quietly. We got to the living room when the phone rang. I picked it up. "Hello?"  
"Maxwell."  
"Oh, hey Wufei. Where are you?"  
"Golden State Hospital. Get your butts over here."  
"Why?"  
"Sally gave birth to a boy."  
"What?" I nearly jumped with joy. "Hey guys," I said ecstatically to the others. "Wufei's got a son!" They all smiled with varying degrees of enthusiasm. "Alright Wufei, we'll be there in a few. Which room are you in?" He told me. "See ya." We hung up and in a few minutes we were piled into a car heading for the hospital.

We arrived at there in record time. We got past the nurse and entered the room where Sally and Wufei waited. There, A most family-like sight awaited us. Sally lay in bed, a smile lighting her face when she saw us. Wufei stood next to the bed, carrying the bundle of joy. I kept myself from jumping towards him. "Ooh! Can I see?" We all gathered around Wufei, peering at the boy. He was as cute and cuddly as any baby could be. Especially considering that he was asleep. "What are you going to name him?" I asked. "Chang Liu Po," Sally said. I just nodded. From what Wufei has told me, the last name is said first in Chinese. So, the kid's name was Liu Po. For some reason, I got the feeling that the kid would grow up to some kind of super martial artist or something like that. Either way, the kid was cute.

A nurse came in. "I'm sorry, but all visitors have to leave." I slumped my shoulders a bit. Quatre and I said goodbye to the happy family, while Trowa and Heero just nodded their heads as we left.

As we drove off, Trowa noticed something about Heero. "His wound seems to have healed a remarkable amount since last night." I turned around in my seat. "Huh? Oh yeah, well, vampirism will do that to ya." Quatre nearly ran a red light. "What? Duo, tell us what's going on." I sighed. So much for this being a good day. "I'll tell you back at home."

We got back around 5 PM. I wanted to wait for Wufei, then Heero reminded me that he would probably be spending the night at the hospital with his family. Crap. So much for him being helpful. We all sat around the table in the living room, Quatre sipping some tea, as usual.

I began without preamble. "Heero's a vampire. I know it sounds corny, but it's true." I looked around for a response. Neither Quatre nor Trowa moved so much as an eyebrow. After a creepy silence, Quatre finally spoke. "For how long?"  
I blinked. "Uh, since the accident. Don't tell me you haven't noticed!"  
"We had our suspicions that something was wrong, but this was not quite what we expected," Trowa said quietly. I sighed. They had a right to be somewhat oblivious to the situation. After all, I never told them about the vampire attacks. "You know what? I'm gonna tell you a story of what happened a while back, so let's go eat dinner and I'll tell you about it..."

After I explained what had happened between me and my first vampire, and about meeting Anita and learning about my "heritage", I was drained. I probably looked as pale as Heero. Oh crud, Heero was pale again. "Heero? You okay?" Heero turned to me, that same 'straight through you' look in his eyes. Quatre turned to me. "He's not dangerous to us, is he? I mean, you have him under control?" I didn't say anything. The truth was, I didn't really know.

"I'll take Heero to my room. It's late, we should get some sleep anyway." I got up, but not before taking some of my dishes to the sink. Sister Helen had pounded those rules into my head, you know, like 'don't be rude' and 'keep your elbows off the table' kind of stuff. They never left my mind for a second. Heero just followed me.

We went upstairs to my room. I could feel his glare boring into my back. "Dammit Heero! Stop looking at me like that!" I had had just about enough of his damn staring. I felt like a piece of meat. I whirled around to look at him. His eyes were blue orbs. Really. The white had nearly disappeared, and the pupils were nearly gone as well. "Sweet Jesus..." I backed away from him. He kept following me. "Hey, hold on a minute. You only need to feed every three weeks, remember? Right?" My back hit the wall. Shoot. I was cornered. He walked up to me slowly, beguiling... Dammit. He was being sexy as hell, and I couldn't do anything. I was as helpless as the day I was born. "Sh"

I couldn't finish my expletive. Heero's mouth descended on mine, covering my lips with a strong kiss. It was strong enough to bruise. When he finally let me up for air, I pushed him off me and took a step away from the wall. I yelled at him. "What the hell do you think you're doing? You are under MY control, do you hear me, MINE!" I couldn't believe I had said that. Heero was a person, not a slave. But part of me thought differently. Evidently, so did Heero. He swept his hand across the room, and a wave of power hit me. I hit the wall once again. "Oww..." I got back up slowly, and he hit me again with another wave of energy. I choked out, "Stop it Heero!" He did it again. I felt like I was in the middle of two walls crushing together. I spit out some blood and I felt myself losing consciousness. I summoned up the weird power inside of me, that power that made me change Heero into a vamp. I threw it at my beloved. He flew across the room, hitting the wall with a loud cracking sound. He flopped to the floor, eyes open but not seeing. "Why did you make me go and do that..." I plodded over to him. "This is all your fault..." I fell over, my mind giving in to the intense fatigue going through my body. I think I may have overstrained my powers...

I awoke in a field of flowers. I got up and looked around. All around me were mountains and stream flowed across my path. On the other side of the stream was Shinigami. "I welcome you to my past." I didn't say anything. I was too busy looking at the scenery. Shinigami floated over the water and stood in front of me. "When you're done sight seeing, I can tell you of your heritage." I ignored him and walked away. "You can't walk away from what you are," he said. "Come, embrace your power." I stopped. "I won't embrace it. But I will learn about it, so I will be able to keep it under control so I won't hurt others." I turned around to face him, but he had somehow snuck behind me and I was staring at his chest when I turned. I looked up. "I still don't know how we're related. Other than the eyes, we have nothing in common." He laughed. "You're more like your mother." He waved a hand out towards the field. A woman shimmered into existence, her chestnut hair flowing like water around her. She had deep blue eyes and she was short. In fact, she looked a lot like me, the facial structure and body build. All except for the color of my eyes and skin. She was smiling, a smile I knew well. My smile.

"How do I know you're not just making this up?" I asked. He shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe you still don't believe me. But serves me right. I should have taken care of you all these years. Your mother died when she gave birth to you."

For some reason, I felt that this piece of information made sense. Why else would I be an orphan? Both my parents were dead, technically.

"You want more proof?" Shinigami asked. I nodded. "Alright. You were a war orphan living on colony L2. You knew Father Maxwell, Sister Helen, and Solo. They're all in heaven, you know. You became a gundam pilot because you said you wanted to avenge your friends and family. But the real reason was..." He stopped for a dramatic pause. "... you wanted to taste the blood of death. Death attracted you like a hoard of flies to rotting meat. That's why you took on the persona of Shinigami and went to the Earth."

My jaw gaped. Only I knew that. Deep down, that was my real reason for piloting Deathscythe. I always said I fought for others, but I was really fighting for myself. Death came in all shapes and sizes. I was just one form amongst many. "That still doesn't prove you're my father. It just proves that you can read my mind." I thought I had ticked him off, because he pulled a knife out of his belt. "You are hard to convince, son. But here," He raised the knife to his hair. He cut off a lock and handed it to me. "Check the DNA on this. You'll see."

"Yeah, well, if you haven't noticed, this is the dream world. You give me that lock of hair and it'll be gone when I wake up." Shinigami shook his head. "You'll see..." That same blinding flash of light hit me again.

I awoke on a couch, and Heero was on the floor. Wufei, Trowa and Quatre hovered over me. "We felt some trembles and thought it was an earthquake. Didn't realize it was you guys until we found you two knocked out on the floor," Wufei said softly. I looked over at him. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be at the hospital?" He shook his head. "Sally told me to go home to get some rest." I just nodded. I tried to get up, but I fell back down on the sofa. Yep, I definitely overstrained myself. "Hey, what's that you're holding?" Quatre pointed at my enclosed fist. I looked at it. It was a lock of hair. My eyes widened a bit, but I clamped my mouth shut before I freaked out. "Uh, nothing, just some hair I guess." I shoved the lock of hair into my pocket. I looked outside. It was late, probably around midnight.

I looked down on the floor where Heero was. He was lying face up, eyes closed. "What happened?" Quatre asked. I was about to explain when Wufei looked at me funny. I proceeded to tell him a shortened version of what I had told Quatre and Trowa about vampires. Wufei just nodded. So then I continued. "Heero tried to... uh... suck my blood again, I guess. He threw some power or energy or something at me, and I dished it back at him. Then we passed out. That's all."

Trowa said, "I thought you said you were in control."  
I replied, "Well I thought I was, but obviously not."

Wufei cleared his throat. I knew that he was about to tell us a story. Either that, or rant about justice. "I once heard a story about a guy who could do what you can do. He was called Shinigami, fittingly enough, and he could raise the dead and change people into vampires. But he was neither dead nor alive. Kind of an in-between. I don't know if that helped or not." I shook my head. "Sorry Wufei, but that information didn't help much." I knew it was rude of me to say that, but it was the truth. Sort of. It didn't help the current situation, but it did help me figure out that the Shinigami in my dreams fit Wufei's description. Maybe he was telling the truth after all...

The next morning I drove to the nearest lab. Since I was a gundam pilot, they let me in with no problems. I asked one of the docs to analyze the lock of hair with some of mine. He told me to come back in two weeks.

With that done, I drove back home. But on the way, I wanted to get some food for lunch, so I stopped by a McDonalds. I got a cheeseburger and fries, and THEN I drove home. I hopped out of the car and went into the house. It was eerily quiet. I hate to say it, but it was too quiet. "Heero? Quatre? Trowa? Wufei?" A whooshing sound behind me alarmed me to a presence. I didn't get a chance to turn around. A hand clamped around my mouth. I dropped my lunch. "Don't move," a raspy voice whispered in my ear. "Your friends are okay, just come with me." _Why should I_, I thought. "Because you want to see your friends safe, right?" Stupid vamps and mind-reading...

I was dragged by my braid down the hall. In the living room were Trowa and Quatre, tied and gagged. Wufei and Heero were not in sight. Behind them, holding leashes to my friends were two vampires. I could feel their energy, powerful and sensuous. "What the hell have you done with the other two?" I asked with authority in my voice. Goody for me.

The vamp holding Quatre's chain was a male, slender with blond hair and green eyes. He looked to be about 5' 10". He had leather all about him. He looked like a strip show reject. The other one who was holding Trowa's leash was a female, about as tall as the other one and with a wicked liquid brown stare. She had burn mark in the shape of cross on her neck. She was pale beyond description. She had on a blood red skirt and a black leather tank top stretched REALLY tight. The vampire who had dragged me in here was 6 feet tall, with dark hair that spilled over his shoulders. It had streaks of white in it. I assumed that he was their leader. His build was average, not overly muscled, but not lithe like the other two. He had a trench coat and a dress shirt with slacks. He was the best dressed of the three. He pulled a chain out of his coat and tied my wrists together.

"Hey, where are the other two?" I asked. The leather vamp spoke up. "They got away... but we'll get them later. Heh heh." I jerked my wrists as I felt the chains tighten a bit too much. "Ow! Hey, watch it!" I looked up to stare in the eyes of the vamp. His eyes were midnight blue. He moved his head back a bit from my stare, as if I had bit him. "What gives? You don't react like the others..." His gaze turned towards Quatre and Trowa, who were struggling. I watched as Quatre and Trowa suddenly stopped moving and stared at him. I knew what kind of powers that vampires had. I tested the chains. Why had they put me in chains anyway?

The trio of vampires were anything if not annoying. They hadn't done anything to us, just leaving me and the guys tied up while they smashed Quatre's house with a vengeance. Vases were broken and tables were overturned. I watched as Quatre's eyes watered because of the destruction of his beautiful home. He could probably replace everything, but it was the principle of it all. You don't go rushing into someone's house, tie them up and wreck their house. It's just not cool.

I was quite sickened by this display. "Stop it!" I screamed. All three looked at me. God, I wished Heero was with me. The look they gave me made me regret having yelled at them. They floated towards me. I guess all vamps could float. Leather boy and Pale girl walked towards the guys. They kneeled in front of their respective victims. The man started licking Quatre's ear. The woman started nibbling on Trowa's neck. "Don't or I'll kill you!" I shouted. They continued, unheeding my threat. The vampires started touching Trowa and Quatre intimately, in ways that shouldn't be done by someone who doesn't love you. They started laying loving caresses and tender kisses on my friends. Their eyes were like Heero's; dark with no pupils and barely any white. Trowa and Quatre looked as if they had swallowed a bug, grimacing and trying to resist. _Keep fighting my friends._

I struggled in my chains. "Damn you!" Their leader walked towards me. He bent down and looked me in the eyes. Our noses touched. I lost sight of Trowa and Quatre. "You're good looking, you know?" He licked my lips. I jerked my head back and spluttered, "What the hell?" I wiped my lips on my shirt sleeve. He moved closer as I inched towards the wall. "Get away you bastard," I uttered in a flat tone. He smiled, his fangs showing. They gleamed in the light. "Oh no, I could never bring myself to get away from a cutie like you." He moved forward again, this time towards my neck. I caught sight of Quatre biting his lip, trying all he could to resist the man's hand in his pants. I heard Trowa moan. _Oh God, what have they done to deserve this..._

A loud whooshing sound filled the room. Everyone looked up towards the source.

Heero stood in the window, looking at my would-be assaulter with death in his eyes. No really, he didn't look the least bit alive. He stepped off the windowsill and stalked towards me. For some reason, the other vamps got out of his way. They all backed off to the side of the room. He untied me. Well, he didn't really untie me, he just snapped the chains with one hand. Wow, vampires are really buff. Next, Heero untied Trowa and Quatre. They were still sort of in shock.

I comforted Trowa and Quatre. "Hey, are you guys okay? C'mon, speak to me!" They stared at me for a few moments, then Quatre broke down. Trowa seemed to have come out of shock, so he held Quatre closely. "I'm... I'm so sorry Trowa... I couldn't... couldn't stop him..." He sobbed while Trowa whispered comforting words. My heart broke at the sight.

"You... What the hell are you?" I turned around towards the voice. The leader of the vamps had asked Heero a question. I stood up to protect my friend, but he put his hand up. "I can handle this, master." It was my turn to be in shock. Did he just say master? "I am a vampire who still has his soul. He," Heero said, pointing at me, "immortalized my body and resurrected my soul." I couldn't believe he remembered that. I still couldn't believe I had done that.

Heero spoke again. "Get out of this house, and if you EVER come near any of these people again I will rip your hearts out and I will personally feed it to you." The vamp gang just snickered a bit. "Ooh, we're so scared. You're not even completely undead! Ha ha ha!" Heero's eyes liquefied. A tingle across my skin was my only warning before he unleashed an amazing amount of energy. It smacked the group into the wall. They quickly hustled out of the house through the window. "We'll be back, and in bigger numbers! You can't stop Master Morbius!"

_Master Morbius... Must be the lead vampire of the gang._ It's too bad I had no idea just how powerful this bastard was.

Trowa and Quatre went to their room, probably to comfort each other. I needed some TLC right about now too. I turned to Heero. "Oi, where's Wufei?" He looked at me. His eyes had returned to normal. He spoke so quietly that I strained to hear him. "When they attacked, I only had time to grab Wufei and jump out the window. I wanted to go back and save the others, but Wufei told me that they would be okay. He told me to look for you first. Then he left on his motorcycle." I was kinda suspicious. Surely Wufei couldn't be on the side of Morbius, could he? I didn't really want to find out. "So, how come you couldn't sense me or anything like that?" Heero shook his head. "I can't do that. I can only follow your trail. So I tracked you. Why did you go to the DNA lab?" I was startled by this unexpected question. "Uh, no reason. Can you track Wufei?" He nodded. "Mission accepted."

We rode Heero's motorbike. It was a Harley Davidson, as opposed to Wufei's Kawasaki. Both of the bikes were cool, but what Heero's bike lacked in speed, was made up in power. This motorcycle could plow through a wall. Unfortunately, speed is what we needed at the time, and Wufei's modified Kawasaki motorcycle had us beat.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" I asked desperately. Heero just snorted. "Nope." I sighed in frustration. We had been driving around for an hour. We still hadn't found him. We drove around a corner in a residential area. This place seemed familiar...

"It's Anita's apartment."

I looked to Heero, and then the building. Yeah, it was. It just looked different in the light.

We knocked on her door. We heard her say, "Come in." So we did. Inside, Anita was sitting on a couch. Wufei was sitting across from her, sipping a hot drink. "Wufei!" I exclaimed. "Why are you here?" He put his drink down on the coffee table and looked at us. "Sally and Anita are old friends. I was introduced to Anita after I proposed to Sally. I didn't think Anita was serious at the time when she told me she hunted vampires in her spare time, but..." He trailed off.

I nodded. I understood how Wufei felt. I felt the same when Anita told me all that stuff about the supernatural. In fact, it's still quite overwhelming.

"Wufei tells me that you were attacked," Anita said. "Yeah," I said. I just remembered; Wufei had come here instead of helping the others. "Hey Wufei, what's your problem? Why did you tell Heero to get me instead of helping the others?" Wufei closed his eyes. "I'm sorry about that. But I knew that Trowa and Quatre wouldn't be harmed. At least, not much."

Damn him. He's just so freakin' uncaring sometimes. "Jesus Christ Wufei! They could've been killed!" I yelled. He didn't say anything for a while. "I know," he finally managed to whisper, "I am truly sorry. But with what I know about the supernatural, Heero couldn't have fought them off on his own. He and the others would have been killed if you weren't there." I was stumped. Why did I have to be there? What did my presence have to do with anything?

I looked at Heero. He looked pretty normal, considering he hadn't fed. It's strange, Anita told me he only needed blood every three weeks or so, but Heero has random cravings. It's like he's unstable or something... "Um, Anita? Is it possible that new vamps are unstable? I mean, their craving for blood and all that kind of stuff." Anita shook her head. "I've never heard of anything like that. If there were some anomalies, then I probably would have heard of it." Crap.

Now I had more questions than I did answers. I hate that. I'd rather have more answers than questions, but life doesn't always work out the way you want it to, right?

I told Anita and Wufei about what had happened at Quatre's house. Wufei and Heero remained quiet, while Anita just nodded. "I see," she said. "So Heero saved you all, huh? That's pretty amazing. He must have a really strong link to you." Again with the 'my necessary presence' talk.  
"Why does that have to do with him being all buff?"  
Anita answered, "If you hadn't been there, Heero wouldn't have been able to draw up as much energy as you said he did. Some of the energy he threw at the bad vamps must have been yours."

That made perfect sense. Heero can take my energy and use it for his own purposes. I wondered if that applied to me. "Of course, it usually works one way. The Master can give energy to the Servant, but the Master can't extract energy from the Servant." Damn. "Not unless the Servant gives it up voluntarily. Then yeah, the Master can get energy from the Servant." All right!

"And by the way, the Master can always block the Servant's request for energy, but usually, the Master has so much energy, that it doesn't really matter," Anita concluded. Wow. I just learned a buttload of information. Wish I had taken notes...

It had been a long day. It was night once again. Wufei, Heero and I went back to Quatre's house. My mind was reeling from all the things that Anita had told me. So Heero could take my energy, and I could take his, with his permission of course. But what did Anita mean when she said that 'usually, the Master has so much energy, that it doesn't really matter'? Did I have a lot energy that I couldn't tap at this moment?

And I still had my suspicions about Wufei. Why had he come here instead of helping the others? Knowing Wufei, he should have ranted about justice then try to attack the intruders, regardless of strength. Do I really know Wufei as well as I thought I did? All three of us remained quiet on the trip home. I hoped Quatre and Trowa were okay.

* * *

If you know Chinese, then you'd know that Liu is Mandarin for 6. Just another pun on names and numbers... Eh heh...  
Anyway, feel free to e-mail me your rants and raves, just don't cuss me out, okay?


	3. Chapter 3

This is Part 3 of this fic. I just got my second issue of The Magdalena. It is a kick butt comic book dealing with vampires. It rocks. Anyway... This is my first GW fic, there is some violence, strong language and it has the usual yaoi pairings of HeeroxDuo (I know I've said DuoxHeero before, but things change, and besides, I didn't really know it made a difference until now ^^), and QuatrexTrowa. So if you don't like male/male pairings, then don't read this, or pretend that Quatre and Duo are chicks. Okay?

**Eternity of Blood**

**Part 3**

**By: Top Ace**

We came back home. "Hey, we're home!" Quatre welcomed us back with open arms and a smile. That kid recovers quickly. He's stronger, probably stronger than the rest of us. He's always keeping us together, kinda like a big brother. I smiled. Quatre, the big bro. I could get used to that. Trowa walked up behind him and put an arm over his shoulder. Quatre responded by putting an arm possessively around his thin waist. "Took you guys long enough," Trowa said. "Wufei, where were you?"

Wufei just said, "Ask Duo. I was with them most of the time." Sure, thanks Wufei. Leave me with all the talking. But then again, that's what I do best, ne?

We went inside and I explained what had happened. Seems like I'd been doing a lot of that lately. After I had finished talking, Quatre said, "Duo... We... Trowa and I have decided to help you guys." I shook my head. There was no way that they could possibly go through what Heero and I have gone through. I wouldn't let them. They're only human. Even gundam pilots have their limits. Well, except for Heero, that is.

"No freakin' way," I stated. There was no arguing with me. "You are NOT going to help. I say this for your own safety. Me and Heero have powers that you guys don't. You have to trust us and leave this matter to us." Wufei nodded his heads. "Yes, I don't think either of you should help us." I turned to Wufei in surprise. "Excuse me? What did I just say? No one, and I mean no one is going to get their asses kicked because of Heero and me." Wufei shook his head. "You don't have much of a choice. I'm helping." He got up and left the room. That guy can be so damn frickin' stubborn sometimes... I just prayed to God that he wouldn't be hurt.

A couple of days passed. The cold March air gave way to April, and that meant daylight savings time for us on the American west coast. Now, the sun wouldn't set until 7 or 8 at night.

Lately, the vamps had been pretty quiet. Heero and I started vampire hunting, so we could flush out some information. Every other night or so we would find a newbie vamp. Of course, sensing Heero's power, they ran away. I wondered why Heero couldn't sense power like other vamps could. I could sense power too. Heero wasn't like the others. Maybe it was just me.

It was almost time for the test results to come in. Only one more week. I was anxious. Was Shinigami really my dad? I shook my head. _We'll see._ Heero was standing in the open doorway, waiting for me as I put on a coat. The coat hid my gun and my two silver knives. I looked out the door. The sun was almost gone, leaving just a trace of light that left a dim silhouette of Heero. I tied my shoelaces, then I said, "Okay, let's go get some vampires."

"Wait."

I turned around. Wufei was standing in the corridor, dressed in a grey trench coat, navy blue tank top and those white pants that he always wears. I wonder if he has a whole closet of those... "I'm coming too." I shook my head. "No." It was strange that Wufei just now chose to come with us. Before he would just go out on his own.

He just smirked. "Trust me, you'll need my help." I raised an eyebrow in suspicion, but I let it go. I didn't have time to play 20 questions. "Fine. Let's go." All three of us stepped out into the night.

"Heero. Heero! Oi!" He slowly turned to me. "What?" "Watch where you're going, you almost ran into a parked car." Heero turned to the car that he had almost run into. There was a dent where he had grazed against the car. I had no idea he was this powerful. "You're so strong now, you gotta control your power." He just nodded. We continued walking down the dimly lit street. Only a car or two passed by us on our way down to the downtown area. San Francisco is a big city, but this part of town is pretty dead at night. I didn't mean to make a pun. Really.

Wufei and Heero were walking ahead of me. I trusted Heero, but Wufei... I've known the guy for years, but for some reason I feel so out of place when I'm with him. I don't want to be suspicious of him, but the things he does sometimes... He'll disappear for days at time. Sally would call every once in a while to see if he's with us, but he wouldn't be with us and Sally would just hang up, knowing that we would keep an eye out for him. But he would always return, usually unharmed, maybe the occasional scratch or scrape. The guy is so mysterious...

We had reached the underground of San Francisco. This was the inner city. We were in deep. We passed by a building with a neon sign, and a crowd of people forming outside. Wufei stopped us. "Wait. Look at the sign." I looked up. The sign, to my surprise, said, "Bloody Delights." It was either a sadist/masochist cult or an English strip club. Either way, it sounded like a place where vampires would hang out. I nodded to Heero and Wufei. "Let's go."

We entered the club. Immediately, loud and odious music assaulted our ears, and then a faint scent of smoke and blood wafted through the air. Women and men alike were clad in leather and spikes, having mad orgies and licking fests. _Wow,_ I thought. _There's some weird stuff going on in here._ A nudge from Wufei broke my thoughts. "What?" I screamed over the music. He leaned in and whispered, "Look over there." He gestured towards the back of the club. A dimly lit stairway. We exchanged a look, a mutual understanding beyond words. "C'mon Heero," I said. But he had disappeared somewhere. _Heero!_ I sent my thoughts into the dinning crowd. In an instant, he appeared near me. I gestured with a nod towards the stairway. He nodded and we went.

The three of us walked upstairs. The stairs led to a single door. A bulky looking man stood in front. "Only members enter." I looked at Wufei. He flashed a card. "Go right in," the man said. I glanced at Heero. He got the idea. Keep an eye on Wufei. Why he has a membership to this place, I'll never know.

I walked in, following Wufei. Heero followed behind me. A three man walking band. As I walked in, I heard moaning and the sound of a whip. I didn't want to see what was in there. Me, afraid?

The sight was ghastly to behold. In the room were various couples or threesomes (I think there was even a foursome; I wasn't sure) necking and doing wicked things with leather, chains and whips. I definitely didn't want to be here. But a look from Wufei pulled me on. Two women walked towards us. They flashed us a smile. The glint of fangs showed clearly on their pale skin. This was a vampire junkie's heaven.

"Wufei, what the hell have you gotten us into?" I asked, rather touchily I might add. He smiled. "We're investigating." I grabbed onto Heero's jacket. "Heero, keep an eye on" Heero put a hand over my mouth. "I know," he whispered, his warm breath flowing over my skin. His touch electrified me. I guess vamps can smell lust, because three vamps suddenly looked at me. _Oh crap._

I looked for Wufei. But he was in the middle of chatting with someone. I couldn't see the face from where I was standing, but it was obviously a female, from the getup that she was wearing. A tight halter top with a black skirt that shimmered in the night. She looked kinda familiar too, but I couldn't place her. She was definitely a vampire though, I could feel it.

"So gorgeous, what are you doing here?" A young female had snuggled up to me when I wasn't looking. She nearly put a hand in my shirt. Heero grabbed her wrist. "He's mine," he growled. I couldn't help but smile. I kinda liked it when Heero was possessive of me. I thought it was cute. The woman pulled her hand out of Heero's grasp. "You're hot too. You can share, you know. Everyone here likes to share." She smiled. No fangs. I looked at her a little more intently. No magic. She was 100% human. "What are you doing in a place like this?" I asked. She replied, "Same reason you are." I raised an eyebrow. "Uh, well, besides that. Like, why do vamps turn you on?" She smiled, a bewitching grin. "Why do you think?" I was getting tired of being answered by a question. "Just tell me." She giggled a bit. "Ooh, wanna get straight to the point, hm? Well, it's just the way they are. I mean, look around ya. Vampires are dead sexy." I chuckled a bit at her pun, if it was meant to be pun. It probably wasn't.

I looked back up to Wufei, who was being surrounded by two other vamps. Wufei tried to walk past them to get back to us, but then one of the vamps took him by the arm. "Hey...," the larger of the two vamps said menacingly. Wufei looked at Heero, then glanced at me. The other vampire put a hand in Wufei's jacket and pulled out a gun. Wufei made a grab for the gun. I didn't even see him pull out a knife and slash the vamp's wrist. Blood spilled and the other vampires who were busy drinking the blood of the junkies looked up. However, instead of them charging up to help, they just continued on with their activities. The woman who Wufei had been talking to had disappeared. Wufei managed to grab his gun from the surprised vamp who was now trying to heal his wound. Silver will slow a vamp's healing process. He tried to run for the door, but the other vampire blocked his path. Wufei versus two vampires. I didn't think he could handle it. So I did what any good friend would do. I charged forward.

"Run! Get Duo out of here!" Wufei yelled as he was being taken by the vamps. I rushed forward to help him, but the other vampires stepped in my way. I pushed forward, but then someone grabbed onto my arm. I pulled it out of their grasp when my other arm was grabbed, no, bit. Someone bit me! I looked to see a vampire's fangs in my arm. In my panicked state, I ripped my arm out, leaving a long cut down the length of my arm. It started bleeding, and that attracted the other vampires, who were now advancing towards me. I wanted to pull out my gun and start taking them out, but an arm wrapped around my waist. "Heero, let go!" He picked my up and hauled ass. I kept hitting him, telling him to let me go. As we left, another vampire managed to bite into my leg, leaving a rather large gash. He just kept going, down the stairs, out the door and into the night. I could hear Wufei's screams the entire way, even if they were just in my mind.

"Lemme go Heero! I command you, stop and let me go!" I poured all the power that I could into my words. He finally stopped and put me down. "You coward! How could you leave him like that! I know that he seems suspicious and everything but he is still our friend! How could you!" I was screaming my heart out at Heero, who looked like for all the world as unemotional as a doll. "You have no heart! I can't believe you did that! Christ!" I started to run back to save Wufei, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me. "Master, please," Heero pleaded. But I shrugged off his hand. "Don't you 'Master, please' me! If you had half the courage that you had when you were alive..." I stopped my ranting there. I didn't want to give in completely to my anger. I took a deep breath and said, "Go away. Just go away and leave me alone for awhile." For once, he did as I asked. He floated away. I didn't even see him go, it was just one moment he's there, the next moment poof! He was out of sight.

"Arrrrrrrrrgh!" I stomped into Quatre's house, treading mud and what not onto his carpet. I didn't care this time. Screw his damn carpet. He's got enough servants to clean up after him. I didn't mean to be this moody. But times being what they are, I had to vent. I took out enough of my anger on Heero to last three lifetimes. I felt guilty and angry all at once. Let's just say my temper was not at its best.

I plodded up to my room. After what had happened, I needed a nice hot bath and a long nap. I walked into my bathroom and turned on the tap. I threw off my clothes and looked myself in the mirror. The amount of scars and wounds I was getting had increased significantly. The scratches on my face were healing. Those wouldn't leave a scar. However, my arm was a different story. I'd be seeing those marks for awhile.

I slowly slipped into the hot, steaming water. The water turned into a diminutive tint of brownish-red. The blood was leaking from one of my wounds. I looked on my leg where I had gotten cut. The blood was slowly streaming from it. Crud. I lifted the leg out of the water, and rested it on the edge of the tub. I slowly relaxed my body and leaned back. The back of the tub felt warm...

I craned my neck around to make sure it was who I thought it was. It **was** Heero. "Heero, don't scare me like that." "Sorry Duo." I smiled. It had been a while since he had called me that. I leaned eagerly into his warmth. I didn't want to admit, but I needed him. Being near him fulfilled some deep part of my heart. I was surprised that he hadn't gone off somewhere and sulked, especially after the scolding I had given him.  
"Heero?"  
"Hm?"  
"I'm glad you didn't run away after I yelled at you. And I'm sorry about what I said, I didn't mean to"  
He put a finger on my lips to shut me up. "You're my master, I can never leave you." Somehow, those words didn't give me any consolation. None whatsoever.

We got out of the bath after I had thoroughly soaked myself. I was nearing that nasty prune stage. Good thing Heero woke me up. He dried my body and got me some pajamas. All he had done was dry himself and wrap the towel around his waist. It was kinda nice to have him as a servant. I was getting into some pants when Heero's towel dropped. I hadn't really noticed before, but he had been holding up the towel. He's a gundam pilot who learned calculus at age 13 and he still doesn't know how to wrap a towel around his waist securely. He suddenly fell to his knees. I kneeled down and reached out to him. His eyes had become blue orbs again. _Oh no, not this shit again. Anita is wrong about that damn three week period._ I backed away from him. I did not want to be fed on tonight. Two other vamps had already bitten me, I didn't need a third.

Heero looked at me with hunger in his eyes. He crawled towards me like a wolf stalking its prey. I scooted back until my back hit the bathroom door. Dammit. "Heero, control yourself." He stopped crawling. "Good..." He started crawling again. "Bad..."

He stopped again when the tips of our noses touched. His lips touched mine in a tender kiss. It wasn't strong or painful like any of the other kisses he had given me lately. It was soft and delicate like a butterfly landing on a flower. His tongue forced my lips open, and we caressed each other's tongues. It was like sucking on warm jello, sweet and smooth. God, he was so good. His mouth left mine, leaving me whimpering. He traced his tongue down the side of my face, placing a kiss on my cheek before going down to my neck.

I put a hand on his face. "Stop. You are NOT going to put your mouth anywhere near my neck." He backed away from my hand. I guess I ruined the mood. Oh well, so long as he doesn't bite me. I've had my fill of bites for one night. He got up and helped me up. I opened the bathroom door and walked out. He didn't follow me. "Heero?" I turned around to get him, but he was gone.

My shoulders sagged. _Looks like I'll be sleeping alone tonight._

I woke up clutching my pillow, the blanket wrapped around my legs as if I had been running. Then I remembered. I had been running. Three, maybe four vampires had been chasing me. I remembered Wufei screaming in the background. Wufei... Damn, I had to find him.

I looked at my clock. It was three in the morning. I've only had about four hours of sleep. Oh well, I'll live. I changed into some black jeans and a dark green T-shirt. I grabbed my shoulder holster and stuck in the Browning. Then I slipped on a black jacket, perfect for hiding guns and what not. I was ready. I quietly snuck out of Quatre's house.

I walked out into the night, alone. I was heading back towards Bloody Delights. There was no way I was going to allow Wufei's death to be unavenged. I wish I had a shotgun.

I was halfway to the club when the street light above me went out. I looked around me, but the shadows were playing tricks on my eyes. I couldn't see as well as I usually do in the dark. Then they were upon me, three of them, their teeth gleaming in the darkness.

I whipped out my gun and pointed it at them. I also pulled out my cross. They seemed unaffected by the gun, but when they saw the cross they flinched a bit. Who says faith isn't power?

They didn't stay shocked for long. The one in the middle lunged for me. I shot straight at its heart at point blank. It fell like a fly. The other two jumped up, and I shot at them too. The one on the left dodged clear, while I nicked the other on the arm. I rolled out of the way, and tried to summon up the powers I used on Heero. I felt it bubbling in my body, but I couldn't get a good grasp on it just yet. Guess I'll have to use my own strength and weapons for now.

The one that I shot first got up. The other two backed off. Why is it that the one in the middle is always the dominant one? It came towards me, levitating. I took a few steps back. A woman's voice was heard. "Don't be afraid, animator. We just want talk."  
"If you just wanted to talk, why did you attack me?"  
"Because we wanted to make sure that you are the one."  
"What if I wasn't?"  
"Then someone would've died."  
"Don't you feel bad about that?"  
"Nope."

I already didn't like her. Not one bit. Her chest had nearly healed completely. We're dealing with a really old vampire. I took a deep breath and felt her power. She was at least a thousand years old. Shit.

"My name is Murdida, Morbius' servant. I am here to fetch you, Son of Shinigami." Fetch me? What am I, chopped liver? I shook my head. "I'm busy. Fight with me some other time." She smiled, showing her fangs completely. I've noticed that most vamps just show a little bit of fang to scare their victims before killing them. I've never seen a vamp show their fangs completely. Makes me wonder how they can close their mouths shut.

"You must come. Master Morbius calls for you. You must obey him."

"I don't think so lady. So you'd better just back away, save yourself a lot of grief." I remember saying that a long time ago to Relena-ojosan, but this time, I meant the grief part with all of my heart. She just snarled. "If you don't come of your own free will, we will drag you there!" She lifted a hand and the other two vampires jumped. One was knocked out of the air. The other pounced on me and knocked me to the ground. I was struggling with it, it's fangs coming closer to my neck...

"NOOOO!" I screamed as I felt power surge forth from within me. I could feel it welling up with no where to go. So I forced it through my hands, blasting out at my attacker. The vampire screeched, flying back. It righted itself in the air and looked at me. I didn't flinch. It started to fly back towards me, when I heard a shout. The vampire turned its head towards the sound. Must have been a newbie, old vamps don't do that.

Next thing I know, the blast of a shotgun resonated through the air and the vampire's head splattered all over. The body fell to the ground with a squishy thump. I turned towards the origin of the sound. Three figures in the shadows walked towards me. I raised my gun, but not at them, just at a ready position in case they tried to attack me. The sound of wind and a familiar energy alerted me to Heero's presence. He stood beside me. He didn't move, but he didn't relax either. I didn't know if they were enemies or friends. Or neither.

A voice cut through the silence. "Duo!" Anita. Thank God. The trio walked into the street light. Anita, Sally and...

"Wufei!" I shouted. I ran to them, and gave him a big hug. "Dammit man, I thought you were dead! I was going to go avenge ya!" He smiled and shrugged me off. "Get offa me, Maxwell. I'm alright. The women... helped me." Anita and Sally shared a glance. "Excuse me? I think the word 'saved' is more appropriate," Anita said in that tone of voice that lowered a man's self-esteem in point three seconds flat. Sally laughed. Wufei just glowered a bit. "Yeah yeah, whatever. Let's get outta here. Oh, and Maxwell?" I turned to look at him. He had scratches on his face. Blood was in generous amounts on his trench coat. "What is it?" "I saw your friend, Hilde. She's one of them." Oh crap. Hilde...

We all returned home. Wufei went with Sally back to their house. Anita went back to her apartment. Damn, that meant I couldn't get any answers. Unless...

"Heero?" He looked at me, his face bloody and arms scratched up, but healing. "First of all, wipe your face." He grabbed the lower part of his tank top and wiped his face. "Second, were you there when the girls busted out Wufei?" He shook his head. "Then where were you?" He shrugged. "I was... away."  
"Where?"

"Tell me!"  
"Relena's."

I froze. He stopped walking and looked behind me. "For some blood. She didn't mind. She doesn't even know." I didn't know how I felt at that point. Was I angry? Was I depressed? I don't know. I knew, that we loved each other deeply, and that he was hungry and needed some blood. I could understand that. But why her? Why did he travel that far to get some blood from her?

"Because she's nearby and she's the only person I could think of that wouldn't freak out if I suddenly showed up at her window." I wish he would stop reading my mind without my permission. "Oh." I continued walking. He followed. We walked back in an uncomfortable silence. Why was Relena nearby? She was supposed to be working in the colonies... wasn't she?

I walked into the house, Heero following me as usual. Trowa walked up to us. "Did you... find any vampires?" I nodded. "We found lots." If Trowa wasn't Trowa, I could've sworn he shivered. But then again... "You okay, Trowa?" He nodded. "I'm perfectly fine." He walked back into the house. I told Heero to wash up and go to bed. He did. I followed Trowa into the kitchen.

"Trowa." He turned around. "What?" He sounded hurt. "I know there's something wrong. Tell me." Trowa didn't even quiver. "Let's get something to eat first."

We had made a few sandwiches and I made some coffee. We took the food to the living room. I sat on the loveseat, while Trowa sat across from me on the sofa. The house had been fixed up, with new furniture. However, it didn't feel the same. Quatre didn't order the same furniture, or any of the same accessories. Call it a hunch, but I guess he didn't want to be reminded of what had happened.

"Well, what is it?" Trowa took a deep breath. "I... I don't like vampires." Was that it? Sheesh, I'm afraid of vampires as well. But there was some underlying fear in him, I could feel it. Against my better judgement, I pumped him for more information. "Tell me, Trowa." Trowa didn't say anything. He didn't even move. He just looked at me with those emerald eyes of his.

"Please Trowa?" That wasn't me. I looked up to see Quatre walk into the room. He sat beside Trowa and took his hand. "Trowa, I know something's bugging you, ever since those... things attacked us. Please Trowa, let us know what's wrong." Trowa just sighed. "A long time ago, when I had no name and wandered, I hooked up with a group of mechanics. This was before I was allowed to work on Heavyarms. A group of us were on Earth, fixing a shuttle in a hangar when they attacked. They came without warning..."

I could see him seeing the scene again, behind his eyes. "There were ten of us when the carnage started. Only two of us got out. There was blood everywhere. I saw one of them attack the man next to me. He ripped out his throat, and lapped up all the blood, like a dog. He looked at me, green eyes that were almost glowing. He looked through me, and I almost felt like fainting. But then a siren sounded and they all escaped." He said this all without so much a change in pitch. All monotone, no feeling. That's Trowa for you.

Quatre was stunned. He pulled Trowa into his arms. Trowa said nothing, just leaned into his lover's embrace. I saw a tear flow down Trowa's cheek. But no sounds of grief came from him.

I got up to leave, but Trowa sat up and said, "Wait." I sat back down. "What is it?" Trowa looked at me funny. If he wasn't Trowa, I would say he looked scared. Trowa's never scared. Or at least, he never shows it.

Trowa stood up. "I accept you and Heero for who you are. I will try and get used to the idea of living with a... vampire. But I cannot guarantee that I will be fully up to the idea of taking on one of those things." He walked away, not letting me question him any further. Quatre looked at me. "You didn't have to do that, you know." I looked at the floor. "Yeah, I'm sorry. But he's been avoiding Heero and me for the longest time. Ever since..." I didn't have to say it. We both knew. Quatre stood up. "Well, I'll go see if I can comfort him. He'll probably say he doesn't need it, but" "I know. Go to him." He smiled and left the room. Which left me and the food. I ate the sandwiches in silence.

After I had eaten, I walked up to my room. Heero was already in bed, sleeping. Once I closed the door shut, he opened his eyes. "Took you long enough." I stuck my tongue out at him. "I know where you can stick that," he said. I smiled. I pulled off my clothes and took a quick shower before climbing into bed with him. He was warm and inviting, and I linked my arms around him. He pulled me closer. I listened to his heart. It was still beating. I always thought that the undead had no heartbeat. I suppose real life is different.

"What are you going to do about Hilde?" I snapped back to attention when Heero asked me that question. Hilde and I had been friends in the war. I had opened her mind and she made a decision to get out of OZ. She gladly followed me and my friends to fight for freedom and peace. We were good friends and after the war we did date for awhile, but we both felt that we weren't right for each other. The caring was there, but the passion wasn't. We agreed to remain friends. The last time I heard from her, she had a boyfriend that cared for her and loved her. She said that he had proposed and she had said yes. They were to be married in June, and I was invited, along with all the people she knew from the war. I smiled at that thought. Heero nudged me out of my reverie. "Huh? Oh yeah, Hilde. We'll have to hope that she's on our side."  
"Our side?"  
"Yeah. We'll have to look for her, of course. But once we find her, maybe I can, you know, change her."

Heero shrugged. I knew what he was thinking. If she gets in the way, he'll kill her. I loved Hilde like a sister; I didn't want to lose her, even if she was a vamp. "Don't kill her if you don't have to, but if things do get out of hand, follow your emotions. That's what you told me." Of all the things in the world, it was this piece of advice that came from Heero that didn't make sense. I knew next to nothing about Heero's past. He told me that someone had told him to always follow his feelings. So far, that had kept him alive. I hoped it would keep me alive too.

* * *

If you have read the Magdalena series of comics (there are only two right now but anyway...) then you can see I got a couple ideas from that. That is one disturbing comic, I tell you what.

Anyway, feel free to e-mail me your rants and raves, just don't cuss me out, okay?


	4. Chapter 4

This is Part 4 of this fic. I just found out that the very talented writer of Acherontia Atropos is none other than Katsu no Miko. So go read her fics!  
I've been reading the entire series of Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter books by Laurell K. Hamilton. I'm up to the 6th book in the series called The Killing Dance. If you want a list of the book titles, feel free to e-mail me. Anyway... This is my first GW fic, there is some violence, strong language and it has the usual yaoi pairings of HeeroxDuo (I know I've said DuoxHeero before, but things change, and besides, I didn't really know it made a difference until now ^^), and QuatrexTrowa. So if you don't like male/male pairings, then don't read this, or pretend that Quatre and Duo are chicks. Okay?

**Eternity of Blood**

**Part 4**

**By: Top Ace**

I awoke, groggy and tired as usual. I pulled myself together and crawled out of bed. Heero was no where in sight. I looked up at the clock. It was 10 AM. 6 hours of sleep. Good enough. I put on some clothes and went downstairs to get some breakfast.

Trowa, Quatre and Heero were sitting around the table. Wufei was there too. "Mornin' everyone," I mumbled as I poured myself a cup of coffee. They all uttered some sort of morning greeting. "Wufei's got something to tell us," Heero said. We all sat down around the kitchen table and looked at him. He sighed and started talking. "You want to know what happened last night?" We all nodded. "Alright then..."

"After Yuy had taken Maxwell out of the club, I made my way towards the window. I started shooting like crazy, hitting each one in the heart. But as you may know, vampires don't die that easy. So they kept coming. Didn't have much choice but to jump. So I did. Two stories isn't all that high if you think about it. I landed, but I sprained something in the process. Two of the vampires came after me. I started running, but one of them caught up to me and scratched my face," Wufei pointed at the three gashes in his cheek before continuing, "and the other one came behind me. But I got my other gun out and shot them both. It was then that Anita and Sally walked up to me. I don't know how they found me. But once they saw me, three other vampires came after us. So we ran. Eventually, the vampires took a turn somewhere and we lost them. Then we came to where Duo and Heero were fighting. Anita had a shotgun, and blew off one of their heads. You saw that, right?"

I nodded. So that's how he got out... Still, it seemed kinda suspicious. How does one escape a whole roomful of vamps and not get anything more than a few scratches? I decided to question him a bit. "Why were you covered in blood?"  
"That was when I was shooting at the vampires at point blank in the club."

That answer was too easy. Oh well, I would let it go for now. Wufei wasn't really a threat. Not yet anyway.

After that, the rest of the week seemed pretty quiet. We didn't bother going on outings, because the only information we had gathered was when Murdida attacked me and told me that Morbius was looking for me. Personally, if that's the only way to get information from vamps, I'd rather be left in the dark. So to speak.

Three weeks had passed since my visit to the lab. I drove up to the lab, hoping that they hadn't thrown out the results by now. I entered the lab and got the results. I didn't open the envelope until I got back to my apartment. I had been mooching off of Quatre's hospitality for too long. It was time to return to normal, if that's what I can call it.

I had thanked Quatre this morning for being so kind, and left with Heero. I dropped him off at the Preventer's office, and I told him that I wouldn't be working for another two days. He just shrugged and went in. Even after all this time, I still didn't know where Heero stayed. Did he have an apartment of his own? Or did he just stay with Quatre? Quatre did have a big house, and he did mention one of the rooms as being Heero's. Eh, whatever.

I walked into my apartment. The air was stale, so I opened a few windows. I walked into my bedroom. I drew open the curtains and opened the window to let some fresh air in. I hopped on the bed and I tore open the envelope. I took out the paper that held the results of the DNA testing. In bold red letters, it said, "DNA Match." Holy shit.

So Shinigami was my father. It was true. Then, as if on cue, a wind gusted into the room. A shadow suddenly covered the sunlight that had been shining on my bed. I thought it was Heero at first, but the energy didn't feel right. I looked and saw him. Shinigami.

"Now you know," he said in a know-it-all tone. I hate people who sound like that. "Shut up. Now that I know the truth, what do you want me to do?" He smiled. "Nothing. Just sleep." He walked over to me and put his hand over my eyes. I felt faint and then I passed out.

"Shit." It was the first thing out of my mouth. I didn't like to have expletives as my first word, but it was the only word fitting for the time. I looked around me. It was the same cave as in my first dream. "Another dream?"

"No," Shinigami said. He was standing behind me. "We are truly here, in the other world." I got up and looked around. Just the average cave to me. It had a slightly greenish-purple tint though...

Shinigami floated away. I started following him. The cave was lit up in some weird luminescent stuff that glowed a greenish-purple. We continued to walk towards an entrance. We stepped out into the night.

The world we walked into was like nothing I could have imagined. The entire area was lit by that same greenish-purple light that lit up the cave. We were standing on a hill, overlooking a city. The city was a bright light among the glowing plants all around. At least, I think they were plants. "Let us go." He beckoned towards the city. "Follow me."

I tried my best not to bump into anything. It was dark as hell down here. Heh, this probably was hell, by the definition of the term. But where were the flames? Where were the devils with pitchforks?

I spoke too soon. As we entered the city, demons and goblins of all shapes and sizes walked (or floated) around us. It was a living, breathing city. I surveyed the sights. In an alley were a group of creatures sitting around a fire. It was like a scene from one of those movies with the people huddling around a small blaze. But these weren't humans, and the flames here were hellfires. Evidently, Shinigami was also the master of that which is creepy and crawly. And I was his son? God, I hoped that I didn't have to take his place.

We walked down the streets towards one of the taller buildings. He said over his shoulder as we walked, "Feel free to talk to anyone, they will welcome you with open arms." I just nodded. No offence, but I didn't want to talk to the creepies from my childhood nightmares.

We reached a large building in the middle of town. It was tall, VERY tall, with flying buttresses and everything. It looked like a gothic mansion. "Uh... where are we?" I asked hesitantly. He turned to me, an enigmatic smile on his face. "This is my kingdom. Welcome to the Shadow Lands."

The double doors were a deep red, like blood. They were probably made out of cherry wood. They creaked as we walked in. The door led to an entryway. It was a nice open area, perfect for having a small reception. There was a curved staircase to the right, leading up to a small balcony-type thing. I'm terrible at describing things. Think about the Shinra Mansion in Final Fantasy VII. Heero keeps telling me I've been playing too many video games, but I tell him to bug off. God, I wish he was with me right now...

Anyway, the balcony-thing was more like an overhang, with two corridors leading from the opposite ends of the overhang. This was one big mansion, probably one of those that was bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. It was probably true. My sense of reality had flown out the window from the minute I had arrived here.

"Step this way, Duo." I looked at the direction that Shinigami was pointing at. Up the stairs. Okay, I could do that. Then all of a sudden, my stomach growled. "Eh heh... I haven't had a bite all day... do you have any food down here?" Shinigami sighed and led me to the door in front of us.

It opened to reveal a simple living room with a kitchen to the left. "Huh, cozy." I walked into the kitchen and looked for a fridge. There wasn't one. "Hey pops, where's the fridge?" He replied in a slightly disdained tone, "We don't have a fridge here. We have a pantry. Try finding something in there." He made a sound then said in a calm voice, "I'm going to do some errands. Your room is up the stairs and to the right. All three rooms there are yours. Enjoy." He walked out. I was left in a mansion with a pantry stocked with food. Yay for me.

I stalked into the pantry, looking for some food. A mouse ran past my foot as I opened the door. Oh goody. I looked around for a light switch. There wasn't one. Oh super goody. I looked around the kitchen. I found a lit candle in a holder. I could never remember what the name of the candle holder was. I'm sure it had some special name... oh well, whatever. I grabbed it and walked into the pantry.

It was dark, and it stank slightly of mold. It was a simple three-walled pantry. I looked up at the wall in front of me. There was some bread, and some unidentifiable substances in glass jars. My attention was brought to one of the jars. The liquid was blue-green, and something was suspended in the liquid. I took the candle closer to get a better look. The thing in the liquid twitched. I brought my face right up to the glass.

"HIISSSSSSSSSS!"

I fell back on my ass. That stone floor was damn cold. I got back up and looked at the jar again. It was swimming around, trying to get away from the light. It looked like a bird fetus, with the big eyes and stumpy limbs. "Did one of our ingredients scare you?" I turned around to meet that amused voice. Shinigami stood in the doorway, a smirk on his face. "Heh heh... The food's on the left." I looked over at the left wall. There was some dried meat, vegetables and fruits, and some spices. I grabbed some of the beef jerky. "I knew that," I said as I left the pantry. I don't think I'll be going back in there for a while.

"So, why did ya bring me here?" I asked. We were sitting across from each other, at a small table. Shinigami was sipping a greenish concoction. "I brought you here for your training to become my heir."  
"My training?"  
"Yes. Did you think you could just master your powers overnight?"  
"Oh." So that was it. Knock the son out, bring him here for training, make him the next heir. Great. Just peachy.

That night, I had a dream. I was praying at an alter in a church, when my cross suddenly started glowing. I turned around and there were three dead sexy vampires looking at me. One of them was Heero. My cross glowed brighter, and they leapt after me. I jumped up into the air, shedding the trench coat I was wearing to reveal a sleeveless shirt, black jeans and a shoulder holster. I whipped a gun out of the holster and shot at two of the vampires. I hit them straight in the heart and they went down. Then the third vampire, who just happened to be Heero, caught me in a bear hug from behind. He clamped his fangs into my neck, and I started shrieking... in my dream, it wasn't a good sound. Then Heero stopped and let me go and we fell to the ground. I lay on the floor, on my back. Heero towered over me, his fangs dripping with blood and glinting in the candle light.

When I woke up, I wondered if it was Heero or me, who was the monster. Or maybe both.

I got out of bed, still kinda shaken from that dream. My room was pretty large, as bedrooms go. It was almost big enough to be a small apartment. There was a bathroom off to the right, and there was a desk to the left of my bed. On the chair was draped some clothes. I looked at them for a few moment, then decided, hell, when in Rome...

I got dressed in the strange clothing then looked in the mirror. Very Victorian. I had a dress shirt that had frilly sleeves, tight black pants, short black boots and above all, a cloak. It wasn't very comfortable, but I could get use to it.

A bell rang outside. I guess it was time for my training.

I padded outside. It was dark. The lighting hadn't changed at all. I waited for Shinigami. He walked, no, glided towards me. "Ready for your training?" I nodded. He raised a hand and three demons suddenly appeared. "Defeat these three with nothing but your hands, and this stick." He handed me a small wooden staff. I looked at him, unbelieving. "You gotta be kidding..." He shook his head. I snorted. "Okay, but don't blame me if I get killed..."

And I thought boot camp was tough.

I plodded into my room. I fell on the bed, not even caring for the dirt and what not on my clothes. I just battled three demons, an ogre and an imp. I was tired beyond words. I just wanted to pass out there and then. In fact, I did. Off to sleepy land...

I awoke groggy and rather smelly. I took a bath (there wasn't a shower to my disappointment) and changed back to my normal clothes. I put the once new clothes on the chair. They suddenly glowed and then they magically mended and cleaned themselves. I was impressed. I decided to put them back on, since they were now clean and fixed. I looked out the window. Still dark. I had no sense of time here. I don't think time was even a concept here. I walked downstairs.

At the end of the stairway was Shinigami. He was dressed in an outfit similar to the one I was wearing. I asked, "Is there such thing as natural light here? You know, like a sun?" Shinigami shook his head, a laugh emanating from his throat. "We are underground, my son. Of course there is no light." That would explain why it was always dark down here. "Can I go home now?" I asked.  
He shook his head. "Not until you have completed the training."  
"Can I at least tell the guys where I am?"  
"No, they must not know."  
"Why?"  
"It is a rule in my kingdom. We are not to interact with the upperworld, and they are not to know about us. That is the way of things."  
"That rule sucks ass."  
Shinigami shrugged. "What can I do?"

I gave up. Guess I would be stuck here for a while. At least until I finished my training.

It had been a long time. I don't know, since there's no sun to tell the time with. My watch says it's been at least a week. I wondered if the guys were even looking for me.

As if my thoughts had summoned them, Wufei and Heero came barging through the door, surprising Shinigami and me. "Wha... How did you guys find me?" I grabbed on to them for dear life. I hugged them so tightly, I thought they would push me off. But they tolerated me. They even hugged back a bit. I let go of them. Shinigami stepped forward. "This one," he said pointing at Wufei, "is a mortal. But the other..." He gestured towards Heero. "This one is not an undead... in fact, he is like you. Did you do anything to him?" I shrugged. "Er... I made him into a vampire?"

"You what?"

Jeez, I thought he knew. I guess not. "Well, you see..."

I explained what happened, with the car crashing into Heero, the strange sensation I felt before I drank his blood, everything. Shinigami didn't say anything after my story, so I turned to the others. "So guys, how did you find me?" Wufei replied, "Heero followed your trail. We found this weird portal thing outside of town. So we went in and then we found this place. Some of the demons outside tried to attack us, but Heero glared at them and scared them away." I just nodded. So Heero's patented glare **was** useful. But why would a single glare from someone who's not even from this world scare off the denizens?

Shinigami had invited Wufei and Heero to stay until I finished my training. Wufei didn't want to stay, but he didn't have much of a choice, since he couldn't leave without Heero. I guess he was afraid of the monsters leaping up and eating him. I was scared too, but I had power. Heero wanted to stay with me, which left Wufei no choice. The three of us stayed in my wing. Shinigami had given me the right wing of the house, which had two bedrooms connected in the middle by a bathroom. The left wing was off limits for some reason. Shinigami wouldn't tell me why. I wasn't going to ask. After what I had seen in the pantry, I didn't want to know.

After Shinigami told a servant to lead Heero and Wufei to their rooms, he dragged me towards the kitchen. "Duo, you do realize what you're done to him, right?" I realized he was talking about Heero. "No... Why, what's wrong?" Shinigami looked at me with solemn eyes. This wasn't good.

"Heero's powers are far more powerful then any normal undead. In fact, his powers may be more powerful than your own." I shrugged. That wasn't much of a surprise. He fumed. "How can you stand there and shrug like that?" He paced a couple of steps, then continued. "He is half-undead, like you. That makes him unstable. If he unleashes his power unchecked and you can't control him, it might create some problems." My eyes widened. If I couldn't control him... Heero...

Wufei took the smaller bedroom, and I could hear him practicing his martial arts. Heero and I stayed in my room. I was ecstatic, but I still felt suspicious to some extent. After all, he went to Relena, of all people, to get some blood.

"I love her like a sister, you know." I wish he would stop doing that. I snapped back at him, "I know that, and would you stop reading my mind?" His expression didn't change at all, he just looked away. I said, "Crap, man, look, it's been a tough... uh... week. Sorry." He just nodded and said, "I understand." He then walked towards the window. "Where are you going?" I asked. He looked back at me, his eyes filled with determination, the same look he got whenever we got a new mission. "If you're being trained, I might as well get some training done as well." With that, he leapt out the window. I got my coat and followed him. But I took the safe way out. I ran out the door.

The night life was coming to an end. Almost. The fires had died somewhat. There weren't as many people. I wondered what happened. Wasn't this place in perpetual darkness? I searched for Heero. He wasn't hard to find, his energy stuck out like a sore thumb. He was with Shinigami in the training grounds, in one of the arenas. Heero was fighting three demons. And an ogre. And an imp. All at once. Shit.

"Heero!" God, I almost sounded like Relena when I said that. All of them stopped and looked at me. I blinked. "Eh? Heero?" I walked up to the arena and hopped over the fence. All the creatures lowered themselves to one knee and bowed to me. Very strange.

"Uh, get up. There's no need to bow down to me," I said. "But we must, you are our prince." The tenor male voice came from the ogre. Definitely not what I would expect an ogre to sound like. "Me? Prince?" Oh yeah, the part about me being heir. Crap. I didn't want to deal with this. But I looked at the procession of creepies bowing at my feet... I knew that they were completely loyal to me and Shinigami. Oh boy, responsibility. Great.

"Hey! You guys!" I turned towards Wufei. He was running out here, his trench coat gone, wearing only his pants and tank top. He had his sword strapped to his back. He looked at the monsters calmly, before saying, "What's going on?" Heero answered in his monotone voice, "We're training." Then he and the critters walked to another part of the arena to train. Wufei looked back at me. "If we're gonna train, then let's train!" Shinigami tossed me a staff. Wufei pulled out his sword and held it in a ready stance. Jesus, what the hell was I going to do?

"Ow ow ow!" Heero was rubbing at my wounds with some herbal medicine. Wufei had played a little too rough today. He cut me a couple of times. But I had jabbed him in the stomach. We were even. But these cuts stung like a killer bee. "Dammit, do you have to put that stuff on me when I'm still bleeding?" Heero just looked into my eyes. His eyes were swirls of blue, like the ocean, so calming... I felt the pull of him in the back of my mind. He was trying to turn me. I shut my eyes and shook my head violently. "Stop it!" I felt his pull start to loosen.

I opened my eyes again. His eyes were just eyes. "You didn't do that on purpose, did you?" He just smirked. I can't believe he had the effrontery to smirk like that! I slapped him. I can't believe I did that! I shook my head to clear my thoughts. "I'm sorry Heero... what's happening to me?" He took me into his arms and cuddled me. Heero Yuy, cuddling me. This had to be a first. "Heero..." I could feel him smile. "You're my master. Of course you'll feel some need to be dominant." That's right... I was his master. I looked back into his eyes. "Then as your master, I want you to turn me. Make me forget my troubles, if only for a while..." I sunk slowly into bliss, as his eyes met mine and I felt my world fly away.

I woke up, groaning. My vision was a little blurry. "What the heck did you do to me?" I mumbled. Heero kissed my forehead gently. "Nothing." What? He didn't take advantage of me? He didn't screw me silly? All he did was 'nothing'? I was kinda frustrated. After all this, I give him the chance to do whatever he wants and he does _nothing_. Urg. I felt Heero's chest quiver. He was trying to hold back his laughter. I had forgotten, once again, that he could read my mind. I could feel his touch in my mind, like a wisp of a feather. "Didn't I tell you to stay out of my mind?" He chuckled a bit. I don't know what happened, but I kinda liked Heero like this. He actually showed emotions. I snuggled into his warmth. I felt safe and protected. I could forget that there was a master vampire after my ass and that Wufei had nearly been killed.

"After I turned you, I just carried you to bed and held you. All night. It was very relaxing," Heero said, his voice sounding sort of wistful. My eyes widened a bit. It was relaxing? My heart fluttered. Maybe he... I shook my head before I could finish that thought.

"Oh, and I drank some of your blood."  
"What?"  
"Your neck."

I reached up to feel my neck. Sure enough, two little marks had been made. Oh well, I guess it just meant that Heero was MORE under my control than ever.

Training was tough. Basically what happened was that Wufei was being trained in sharp shooting and martial arts. That's all he would tell me. Heero was being trained with me, learning to control his powers. One day, Shinigami took me aside from the arena. I followed him to a small building. It looked like a shed. "Follow me," he said. We both entered the small room. He made a spell light and moved it above us. It hovered like a oversized fire fly. As the light flickered, he raised his hand. A small green light glowed in his palm. It went out quickly. "See that? That was a condensation of my power. You try it." I held out my palm. Nothing. Why wasn't I surprised?

"You must feel it, let it flow." I smirked. An image of Yoda popped into my mind. Shinigami laughed. "I too, have seen that movie. This is like the force. Just concentrate on nothing but making your energy into a sphere." I concentrated. I don't know how long I was standing there staring at my palm, but by the time I had a small globe of blue energy floating in my hand, my knees buckled. I dropped the power ball and fell down. I sat on the ground, gasping for air. Shinigami gave me his hand. I waved it away and got up on my own. "You're in less control than I thought. You will need to practice a lot more before you can truly control your power."

I stared out the window from my room. Another week had passed. I think. Either way, we were on week two, and my stamina was fading. I was returning to my room earlier each day. I don't think my power was up to the challenge. I had a theory that most of my power had transferred to Heero when I had drank his blood. I hoped this wasn't true, because if it was, then I would be left practically helpless if Heero died in battle.

I turned at the sound of the door turning. Heero walked in, his shirt torn in several places. The color of dried blood was the main color of the once dark blue shirt. Jesus. "Are you okay, Heero?"  
"I should ask the same of you."  
I think I may have blushed. "I'm okay."  
"Then why do you keep coming back to your room so early?"  
"I... I'm just tired. That's all."

Then Heero did something that surprised me. He walked up to me, and bowed down on one knee. "Take my energy, master." He held up his hand and a dark red ball of energy formed in his palm.

I thought I had told him to stop calling me master. But this time it felt right. I put my hand on the sphere. I gasped as I felt the power rush through me. It felt like I had been struck by lightning. His power flowed through my hands, my arms, to my chest and my heart. It shocked me to the bone. I collapsed onto the ground, sucking in as much air as my lungs would allow. My vision suddenly vibrated, and for a moment I could see all around me. I know it's not physically possible, but I could **see** everything around me. It was more like a feeling than actual sight. My vision returned to normal after a while, and I lay on the floor, staring into nothingness. I could vaguely hear Heero's voice, no, **feel** him as I passed into the blackness of unconsciousness.

It had about three weeks since I had arrived here. It was nearly the end of the third week when Shinigami decided that I was as trained as I would ever be. "Just practice those exercises that I taught you, and you'll be the strongest being ever." I nodded as I walked towards the portal. Heero and Wufei had already entered the portal and were probably on the other side by now.

"Oh, and one more thing."  
"Yeah, what?"  
"Don't change anyone else into a vampire. You're not trained for that kind of thing."  
"Okay. Um, Thanks... father." I saw him smile, really smile, for the first time. I turned and entered the portal.

It was really weird, and I felt like I had been stretched beyond my limits, but I was finally home. Wufei turned to me as I walked out of the portal. "Well, let's go home." I nodded and looked at Heero. He gave me the barest hint of a smile as we got on the motorcycles and went home.

* * *

I know it seems like I 'bastardsized" Wufei, but he's one of my fav G-boys, so just keep in mind that nothing is as it seems...  
Anyway, feel free to e-mail me your rants and raves, just don't cuss me out, okay?


	5. Chapter 5

This is Part 5 of this fic. Anyway... This is my first GW fic, there is some violence, strong language and it has the usual yaoi pairings of Heero & Duo (Ack, they're equal partners, so I guess I would say 2x1/1x2, right?) and QuatrexTrowa. So if you don't like male/male pairings, then don't read this, or pretend that Quatre and Duo are chicks. Okay?

**Eternity of Blood**

**Part 5**

**By: Top Ace**

We came home around noon, tired and beat. Wufei ran into the house, immediately calling Sally to check on Liu Po.

"Is he okay? That's good. Okay. I'll be home soon. Love you too. Bye."

I had never seen Wufei so emotional in my life. He hung up the phone and picked up his jacket. "I'll be back tomorrow to train Quatre and Trowa." Then he left, leaving the rest of us to wonder what he was talking about.

"Where were you guys?" Quatre asked. I looked at Heero. He wasn't going to say anything any time soon, so I guess it was up to me, as usual. Yay.

I explained as much as I could of what had happened in the past three weeks. I didn't mention any dreams. Trowa and Quatre were speechless for a while, trying to swallow all I had said. I quietly wondered if either of them could feel supernatural power. I decided to let loose some energy into the room.

Heero felt it immediately. He looked at me, worried. I smiled. _Don't worry,_ I thought. He relaxed. He didn't question me, just like a good little servant.

Quatre shuddered. "What's that wind?" he asked. Heero and I looked at each other, a thought crossing our minds. He smirked.

"I think you may have supernatural powers," I said. Quatre's eyes bugged out.

"You're kidding."

"Nope. There was no wind. I let loose some energy. If you felt that, then you must have some magic power." I wondered if the special abilities we had could be called "magic." I sort of felt good and bad for Trowa. He didn't have any preternatural power. He was a 'normal'. God, I wish I were a normal too.

Trowa's calm voice broke the silence. "So that's what that was."

My eyes widened. "What? You too? Jeez, now the only one left is Wufei."

So Trowa and Quatre have some link with the supernatural. I don't know what that link is yet. We'll just have to find out.

That night I dreamed. Shinigami appeared to me, once again in a field.  
"Shinigami?"  
"Yes?"  
"Is there something you need to tell me?"  
"There is a disturbance."  
"Whoa." This was like a scene from Star Wars.  
"The enemy is gathering its troops. You must be prepared."  
That left me a lot of options. "And what do you expect me to do about it?"  
"Get your troops ready."  
"I don't HAVE troops."  
"You have that servant of yours. And your friends. I think that's enough for now."  
"For now?"  
"Eventually, I'll have to help you. But for now, just keep the enemy at bay until I can get my own troops in order."  
"Oh. 'Eventually.' Yeah, sure, thanks for your help."  
"No problem." He either didn't get my sarcasm or he chose to ignore it. "I'll let you sleep now. Just be careful, alright?"  
I nodded. "Don't worry. I always am."  
"Right," he snorted before he left, taking the scenery with him. I plunged back into the benevolent grasp of unconsciousness.

Damn dreams. They always left me groggy in the morning, more so than usual. I got out of my bed, washed up, got dressed, and went downstairs. The doorbell rang as I headed to the kitchen. I walked over and opened it; Wufei stood there with two duffel bags. I don't think I want to know.

"Don't just stand there like a lump of fat, Maxwell. Help me move this stuff." He gestured towards his motorcycle. There was a box attached to the back. I grumbled something about not being a morning person and went to get the box. Wufei smirked as I walked past him.

I walked down the driveway to Wufei's Kawasaki. Heero and Wufei owned motorcycles, I owned a jeep, Quatre had a mustang and Trowa had a convertible. I smiled at how we had all sneaked our way into getting the cars we wanted. I never would have guessed that Trowa liked red convertibles.

Wufei had parked all the way on the curb. There was plenty of space on the driveway; why couldn't he have parked there? Must be one of those Chinese courtesy things. Always thank your host, always bring a gift, never park on a friend's driveway...

I untied the box from the bike and lifted it up. Or at least I tried to. The box was really heavy, almost heavier than Heero's weight collection. I closed my eyes to channel some energy into my muscles. I have supernatural powers, why not use them? I tried picking up the box again. It was still too heavy. Maybe I'm just a weakling.

"Let me." Trowa walked over to the box. I stepped out of his way and let him try to pick it up. He's scrawny, I didn't think he could lift it.

Surprises happen everyday. His muscles flexed in that tight shirt of his, as he picked up the box and steadied it on one shoulder. "Come on, Wufei's waiting." I closed my jaw and followed him inside.

Wufei was polishing his sword. No, not THAT sword; I meant his special demon hunter sword inlaid with silver.[1] I called it a demon hunter sword. It even looked like one, except without the axe-like hilt. Yeah, I've been watching too much Devil Hunter Yohko. The funny thing is that my life it turning out like hers. Fighting demons day and night, sacrificing my sanity, yep, just like Yohko.

"There you are. Put the box over on the table." Trowa put the box down in front of Wufei and sat down on the couch next to Quatre. Heero was no where in sight.  
"What's this all about?" I asked.  
Wufei smiled. "I'm going to train Trowa and Quatre. They need to learn some martial arts and sword handling skills. They already know how to use a gun." It seemed like a good idea. But Wufei was missing a piece of information.  
"Wufei, you don't have any supernatural power. Trowa and Quatre have some, but not a whole lot."  
Wufei smirked. I knew he was up to something. "Can you feel this?" he asked before I felt a small breeze. It was Wufei's energy.  
"What... what the..? You've got powers too?" I asked.  
He nodded. "Yes. I was part of the Dragon clan, remember? They didn't call us the dragon clan for nothing."

I couldn't believe it. The rumors were true. A long time ago, I had heard that the members of the Dragon Clan on Colony L5 had mystical powers. Some were fighters, some were healers, and some a combination of the two. I didn't believe that they had actually gained their powers from a dragon. "So you mean to say that the rumor of the clan getting their powers from a dragon are true?"

Wufei shook his head. "You got it all wrong. The legend goes like this. In Chinese mythology, dragons can also take human form. One day, the son of the Dragon of the East Ocean fell in love with one of the princesses of the moon. They couldn't be together in the ocean, since the princess would drown. So the dragon prince sacrificed his dragon form to be with her in the sky. He still had his powers, he just couldn't change into a dragon anymore.

"Now the real part of this myth is that the girl was born in the colonies, and had visited the Earth. The dragon prince, masquerading as a human, fell in love with her. He wanted to be with her, but she lived in the colonies. So he left the Dragon Palace, flew up in a shuttle with her and they got married. They formed the Dragon Clan in Colony L5.

"And that's how the Dragon Clan was established," Wufei finished. I couldn't believe it for a moment, but then again, I live in a world where the monsters under the bed were real. Why not? I decided to accept this as truth. So now all five of us had supernatural powers of some sort. I just had to figure out what Quatre's and Trowa's powers were.

Wufei shouted a loud a loud "Hey!" to get our attention. We all looked at him, wondering why he had to yell like that. He looked at each of us in the eye, trying to see into our minds. For all I knew, he could have been doing that. He cleared his throat, then began speaking.

"Trowa, Quatre, and you too, Maxwell. You all must begin training in the martial arts. I'll teach you what I can. I know this might seem pointless, considering we're facing creatures that can bench press a Toyota. However, when our guns don't work, we must be prepared. As Maxwell said, we all have supernatural abilities. So the ability to perform martial arts will increase your agility and speed."

We all nodded dumbly. Wufei was going to train us. I remember when he was training me to use a staff in the Shadow Lands. We were in for a good beating.

Wufei pulled out three throwing knives and handed one to each of us. "You're going to learn how to use these first," he said. "Try and hit me." He took a few steps back away from us and gestured with his hands. We stood up and stood in a line, facing him. We were about ten feet away from him. Not much, if you ask me. He then made the 'pushing back' gesture. We stepped back until he told us to stop. We were now about twenty feet away. Much better.

"I couldn't do that," Quatre said.  
Wufei just shook his head. "You're going to have to. I didn't bring the dummy."

I was about to ask who was the dummy, but I don't think now was a good time for a joke. Trowa quietly raised his arm gracefully like a cat, and flung his knife. Wufei caught it, right in front of his heart. "Catherine taught me a couple of things," he said. Quatre threw his knife too. Wufei stepped to the right and caught it with his right hand. "If I have to move towards the knife to catch it, then either you aren't trying hard enough, or you have very bad aim."

Quatre's shoulders slumped. Trowa put a hand on his shoulder, then both of them looked at me. They were all waiting for me. "Any year now, Maxwell." I usually don't mind it when he calls me by my last name, but this time bugged me. I hurled the knife at his face.

"Whoa!" Wufei dodged out of the way, and the knife flew into the window, smashing it into pieces. It was like in slow motion, the glass flying into pieces and the cut on Wufei's face slowly beginning to bleed. "Where did that come from?" I asked to myself.

A wind blew into the window. It wasn't a real wind. It was the wind generated by someone's power. Heero stepped inside from the window, holding a knife. "Is this yours?" He tossed the knife towards me, and I caught it with one hand.

"Sorry about that... I'll pay for the window Quatre. Guess I don't know my own strength..." I said sheepishly.

Quatre shook his head. "No, it's alright. I can get it replaced." He looked at Trowa. "Trowa, I felt something from you... Is that your power?" Trowa just smiled faintly. If it hadn't been Trowa, it wouldn't have been a smile, it would have been more like a smirk. "We'll see."

It was about time Heero got back from where ever he went to. He always disappears in the morning. I don't know what he does, but I guess I trust him enough to let him go. I could always question him later. Wufei told Quatre and Trowa to follow him outside. Then he told me to keep an eye on Heero. Wufei said he was unstable. Sure, tell me something I don't already know.

"Heero, where do you go in the mornings?" He didn't say anything, just stared at the floor. We were in my room, our room, sitting on the bed. Wufei had told me to watch him. So I did. He was hot. I wanted him right now. He lifted his head to look at me. "I was outside."  
"Where outside?"  
"Out there." He pointed towards the forest near the edge of the road. I wanted to throttle him for being so damn vague.  
"Why?"  
"Because I feel at peace out there."

That was the last thing I expected him to say. Maybe because of all the war that has been going on in our lives, he needs to experience some peace. I smiled and pulled him into my arms. "You know, you're really sexy." I gasped the minute I said that. He looked up into my eyes, and I felt his pull. His eyes had that lost look in them, as if he was looking for something within me. I kissed his forehead gently, breathing in his scent. He smelled of sweet pine with an underlying aroma of blood and burnt metal. [2]

He tilted my head so he had better access to my neck. I let him. He leaned forward, his lips caressing my skin. He licked the nape of my neck, tasting me. Then his fangs sank in. I held on to him, like he was a lifeline. I could feel his arms encircle me in a tight embrace, his hands roaming over my body. The experience was like making love over and over again. The amount of pleasure pulsing through my veins threatened to make me pass out. But I held on.

Heero finally released me after what seemed like forever. His eyes returned to normal. "Heero..," I sighed. I reached up to caress him. His cheek was soft and warm. I smiled. He was gorgeous. No vampire mind tricks, he really was beautiful, like a fallen angel. My mind hazed over, and the last thing I saw was a flash of worry in Heero's eyes before I passed out.

I woke up in my bed, Heero sitting on the edge. He had one arm over me protectively, watching me. I smiled tiredly.  
"Duo, I'm sorry..."  
"Don't mention it."  
"But Master"

I raised a hand to quiet him. "I love you."

He looked at me, his eyes sliding close. Then he fell into my arms. I cuddled him. He remained silent. I thought he had passed out. His breathing went into a steady rhythm. I lay there for a while, enjoying his warmth and weight pressed against me. When I thought he had fallen asleep, he whispered into my ear, "Ai shiteru, Duo-sama."

A tear slid down my cheek as I closed my eyes and fell into a world of happy dreams.

In the middle of the night, I was awakened to a roar and a scream. The roar sounded like a wild cat, and the scream sounded like...

"Quatre!"

I rushed out of bed, grabbed my Browning and Firestar, and ran to his room, Heero following me. We bashed into Quatre's room, knocking the door out in the process. What I saw shocked the wits out of me.

Quatre was huddled into a corner, staring at the creature with wide eyes. The creature; I can only explain it as being half man, half lion. No words could have described its true form. It roared into the night, sending its glare at Heero and I. Even in the dark, I could that its eyes were shimmering green emeralds.

I turned on the light switch. The white light bathed the room and we all blinked the spots out of our eyes. The lion-man roared again, leaping towards Quatre, its jaw open wide. Heero rammed into it, knocking it into the far wall. I ran over to Quatre. "Are you okay?" Quatre shook in my arms. God, he was trembling. "Shit, what the hell happened? Where's Trowa?" Quatre pointed a shaky finger at the thing that was trying to tear open my Heero. My eyes widened. "Holy mother of Shinigami..."

Trowa-lion and Heero-vamp were fighting dirty. Heero was bleeding in various places; so was Trowa. "Stop Heero! Don't kill him! That thing is Trowa!" Heero leaped off him and did a backwards flip, landing on his feet. Trowa looked at him for a few more minutes, then looked at me. "Trowa, you have to listen to me. Just stay calm." He didn't listen to me. He just roared and leaped out the window.

I looked at Heero. "Heero," I ordered, "Get me one of the books that Anita lent me. The one labeled 'Lycanthropes'." He blinked away and appeared a few moments later, holding the book. He handed it to me, and I flipped through to the page that said, "How to calm a newly transformed." I quickly read through the page. The surprise must have shown on my face because Quatre asked, "What is it, Duo?"

I shut the book. "We're going to follow him. Quatre, you stay here and take this gun." I handed him my Firestar with its silver bullets. "But I can't shoot Trowa..." The pain was evident on his face. He had already shot Trowa once when he was being controlled by the Zero System. He didn't want to do it again.

"I'll protect him. You two go and get Trowa." I turned behind me. Wufei stood there dressed in his tank top and pants, but this time he had a sword in a sheath attached to his belt. My bet was that he had his demon hunter sword with him.

I smiled, even with the current problem breathing down our necks. Smiling always made me feel better. It also cleared my head a bit. I nodded and turned to Heero. "Alright. Let's go."

"Wait."

I turned to look at Quatre. He was staring out the window where Trowa had made his exit. "Watch out. I think he's hungry." I didn't ask how he knew that; I just accepted it and leapt out the window with Heero.

We went into the forest behind Quatre's house. There isn't much forest left in San Francisco, but Quatre had managed to find a bit of wilderness to build his mansion. Which was a good thing. I wouldn't want Tro-lion to be eating any denizens.

"Over here." Heero's voice was barely audible, but I heard him more through my mind than through my ears. I walked over to where he was standing. The leaves and dirt showed the signs of a struggle. There were splotches of blood here and there. "He's nearby," Heero said. I closed my eyes. I could feel Trowa's presence. It would have been really helpful if Heero could too, but he could only follow energy trails.

I heard a rustling in the trees. A figure leaped down in front of us, one hand clutching a deer. Or part of a deer, anyway.

"Trowa?" I asked.

A low rumbling sound came from the figure. It threw the carcass of the deer onto the ground in front of us. I could see that it was half-eaten. I nearly choked before I spewed my dinner on the floor beside me. Heero waited patiently until I had tossed my cookies.

"Alright, I'm done," I managed to say before pulling out my gun. "I don't wanna shoot ya, so just come out into the moonlight so we can get a good look at ya."

A familiar calm voice broke the silence. "It's alright. I just needed some fresh meat. I'm normal... or as normal as I'll ever be." Trowa stepped out into the light. He was still the lion-man.

"Trowa, how long has this been happening?" I asked. He shrugged, sort of. I just saw a movement in his shoulders.

"Ever since the vampire attack when I was a mechanic... There was a were-lion there too. And he gave me a rather nasty scar."

Oh. So he had been a lycanthrope for at least six years. We were all about 20 years old, and since this had happened before the war...

"Hey Trowa? Can you change back now? Six years as a lycanthrope must have given you a lot of power."

He nodded. He changed back to human, but then quickly changed back. "Hey, why did you change back?" I asked.

"I don't have any clothes."

Whoops! "Well, can you change to full lion form?" I asked. He nodded and changed, a clear liquid spilling from his back. It wasn't a lot of liquid, it sorta oozed and glistened in the moonlight. It was an interesting sight.

After Trowa had changed, he walked over to me. He nuzzled my leg. I smiled and patted his head. "I guess you wanna go back to Quatre, ne?" He nodded and gestured for us to get on his back. Heero and I hopped on. Trowa was big for a lion, at least a foot or more larger than the average lion. He must be strong too, considering that normal lions can barely hold up a young man, much less two full grown men.

Trowa is very fast. Especially considering that Heero and I were on his back. He ran all the way back home.

We hopped back into the window, all three of us. Wufei found it odd that we came back with a lion, but soon understood when he looked into the lion's eyes. Quatre made an 'eep' sound, but was soothed when Tro-lion nuzzled his leg. I watched as Quatre understood, and patted the huge lion's head. I could hear purring from across the room.

"Trowa must turn into a were-lion every full moon, and get some fresh meat. Then he will become tame. He can even change back right after the meal. But... uh.. Heero? Could you pass me the book?" He gave me the book and I flipped to the page I had marked. "Ah, yes. As an animal, he will be practically the same as his natural nature. Which, in Trowa's case, is gentle and calm." Tro-lion was curled up, a cat grin on his face as Quatre rubbed his belly.

Wufei was petting Trowa's mane. "Heh. It's like having a big kitty in the house," Wufei commented. Then he got up and headed for his room. "Good night. Oh, and I'll be here tomorrow too, to train a bit more, but after that I have to go home. Sally needs me." We all nodded, even Trowa in his lion form. It was kinda weird, seeing a lion nod to a conversation. I knew he understood what Wufei had said, but it was still kinda surreal.

"Uh, I'll go to bed too. See ya guys in the morning," I said. I yawned and headed towards my room. I nearly ran into the door frame as I headed out, Heero tailing after me as usual.

I fell asleep listening to Heero's quiet breathing, Trowa's purring, and the occasional giggle from Quatre. What would you do if you had a tame lion as a pet?

I woke up at seven. Very odd for me. I got out of my bed and did my stuff. Heero was already gone, probably out in the woods enjoying the sun rise. I walked by Quatre and Trowa's room. Trowa was still in lion form. He had curled up into that cat sleeping position, and Quatre was snuggled up in the curve of Trowa's body, using his mane as a pillow. It was like a boy with his dog... er, cat. You get the picture. It was very heart warming. Something I needed after all the carnage I had seen these past few months.

I went downstairs to get some coffee. Wufei was already there, making some tea. The air smelled faintly of jasmine flowers. He silently handed me a cup. "Here, it's good for your chi."

I took then cup and raised an eyebrow. "Is this part of all that Chinese energy mumbo jumbo, like acupuncture and Yin-Yang?"

"It's NOT mumbo jumbo! Chi is your inner strength and vitality. If you can control it, you can do amazing things."

I listened and tried not to faze out while Wufei continued to talk about the various legend and feats of people who had mastered their chi. But one thing got my attention.

"... I've even heard of people who can fly..."

I grabbed Wufei's shirt collar. "What did you say? Is it true?"

Wufei tore his shirt out of my hands and brushed it back into place. "I wouldn't know, I just heard about it. I can only control my chi enough to slow down my descent if I'm falling, but that's about it."

That's good enough for me. If I could slow down my falling, it would be a great help just in case I was thrown from a balcony and Heero wasn't there to catch me. "Wu-man? Could you teach me? Pretty please?"

Wufei sighed. "Maybe you should learn from Heero. He just watched me and soon he was doing it too. Unless he knew how already..."

I shook my head. "Nah, he probably knew already. He can levitate for God's sake. I don't think slowing down a fall is something he had to learn."

Wufei smiled. "He's a fast learner. Look outside, you can see him." I looked outside. I could barely make out a dark blur leaping from tree to tree. "He saw me doing my morning exercises this morning and asked me how I was able to do all the leaping and gliding that I was doing without supernatural power. It's very odd that he can't actually sense power..." He paused thoughtfully for a moment before continuing. "Anyway, I told him about me being descended from a dragon. Pretty soon he was imitating some of my moves. I don't know if he was copying me or if that was what he normally does. He was jumping up and bounding over the trees too, like Superman."

I figured that since Heero knew how to levitate, he could probably slow down any falling that he might be doing. I just didn't know that he could "leap over buildings in a single bound." I guess if he could levitate, he could probably jump really high too.

I stayed inside, while Wufei was training Trowa and Quatre in using weapons and performing martial arts. I didn't feel like going outside today; maybe it was too cold. I shivered, suddenly feeling the weight of my words as an Alaskan wind blew in from the window. Stupid wind coming from up north. The sun was out, but it was as cold as a freezer outside. I was freezing my tail off. Well, actually, only Trowa could really freeze his tail off, but you know what I mean.

I sensed someone coming into the kitchen. Without turning around, I said, "Hey Heero. Done with your exercises?" I sensed him nodding. I could hear, no, feel him pouring a cup of tea and leaning against the counter. It was like I was inside his mind for a couple of seconds. I guess that's a side effect of sharing blood. I turned my chair to look at him. He looked vaguely normal, with his usual green tank top with black sweat pants. His hair was ruffled, probably from the wind and twigs brushing through his hair while he was running through the trees. I think there was even some leaves in his hair. "Heero..."

"I know," he said quietly, running a hand through his hair and coming up with a few pine needles. I laughed, and he smiled. I turned back to my tea cup on the table.

"You know," Heero said slowly as he walked towards me. "The others are outside right now..." He slid his hand around my neck, tracing the contours of my collarbone. His hand went under my shirt and down my chest. He teased a nipple, gently squeezing it, sending burning sensations through me. "Oh... Heero..."

[Insert lemon scene here]

Wufei walked in on us while we were getting dressed. "People eat on that table, you know," he said rather calmly as he walked towards the counter to get himself some more tea. "Good thing I don't live here." He poured the tea into his mug and left. Heero and I looked at each other for a few heartbeats, then we laughed.

* * *

[1]: One day when I was DMing a quest, I had said that the party saw in the barracks a bunch of men polishing their swords. Well, let's just say that my friends took it TOTALLY the wrong way...

[2]: I figured the gunpowder scent had been overdone, so I decided to make it burnt metal instead...

Ack... I hope I didn't offend anyone with my Chinese courtesy remark. I'm Chinese, so I think I have the right to poke fun at my own culture..  
Anyway, feel free to e-mail me your rants and raves, just don't cuss me out, okay?


	6. Chapter 6

This is Part 6 of this fic. Anyway... This is my first GW fic, there is some violence, strong language and it has the usual yaoi pairings of Heero & Duo (Ack, they're equal partners, so I guess I would say 2x1/1x2, right?) and QuatrexTrowa. So if you don't like male/male pairings, then don't read this, or pretend that Quatre and Duo are chicks. Okay?

**Eternity of Blood**

**Part 6**

**By: Top Ace**

It was later that day that Heero and I decided to finally move out of Quatre's house. We had been mooching off of him for too long; I got the feeling having us there all the time was wearing him out. That, and the fact that I was a target. As long as I was here, I would be endangering Quatre's and Trowa's lives. I was Heero's master, so whatever happened, he would be with me.

I found out that Heero lived downtown and had sold his apartment while I was in the Shadow Lands. I figured that if I sold my apartment, we could pool our money together and get a small house.

Of course, that wouldn't be done for another week. Stupid paperwork. I never really liked it much, so I let Heero handle it. For a dead guy, he's pretty good at filling out papers.

It was the next night when we got a little visit while we were eating dinner. It wasn't really a little visit; three vampires the size of linebackers appeared in Quatre's kitchen.

"We wish to speak to Shinigami's son."

I stood up. "I'm him; what do you want?"

"We have a message. A girl named Hilde is being held hostage down at an old abandoned warehouse in Fisherman's Wharf. If you don't come within 24 hours, we'll rip out her heart and chop off her head." With that said, the trio left the house, leaving the us with many unanswered questions.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Wufei said, more than eager to go bust some vampire heads. It was getting late, and I didn't want to do this at night. But Hilde's life was at stake. I was torn between risking my friends, or risking Hilde. It's like deciding between family and friends; you don't want to lose either of them.

I finally decided. "Dammit! Alright, me and Heero will go. The rest of you, stay here."  
Wufei shook his head. I knew that guy was going to argue. "I'm coming too. I'm a dragon, remember?"

I sighed irritably. Damn dragons. Always so pushy. "Fine, but Trowa and Quatre, you guys are staying here. Is that okay with you?" They nodded. Quatre still didn't know what his powers were. Trowa had full control of his powers, but considering it was the night after the full moon, he was at his weakest. I read that in the lycanthrope book. See, I do my homework.

Heero and I got our things together. He got his cool black leather trench coat that I bought for him. It looks so good on him. He also got on his tight blue jeans and green tank top. He put on some sneakers and was set to go. I put on a black shirt, black jeans and black sneakers. What can I say? I'm a goth at heart. I pulled on a dark blue jacket which hid my Firestar perfectly. The Firestar was in an inner-pants holster in the front of my pants. This way I could pull it out easily. I also put on my shoulder holster with the Hi-Power Browning. Heero thought two guns was enough, but I strapped on a couple of wrist sheaths with one knife in each of them. Silver of course, just in case there were lycanthropes.

We met Wufei downstairs near the door. He had a light brown coat that went down to his knees. He had on khakis and a black tank top. He held a shotgun. "Ready?" he asked. We nodded.

So the necromancer, the vampire and the dragon set off into the night.

We took my jeep down to the Wharf. It's a big place, with criss crossing streets lined up with little street markets and such. It was a nice place to walk down in the day time. It was even nicer to walk down it in the evenings, with the vendors selling dinner in various shops and couples walking side by side, enjoying a romantic walk down the streets. But now, in the quiet part of the Wharf, it was kinda creepy.

We drove to the only building at the end of the Wharf, an abandoned warehouse with the door open and no lights. I parked my jeep a little ways outside and we all got out. We walked towards the building, wary of anything that moved or made a sound. We walked steadily into the warehouse.

The lights suddenly switched on at our entrance, and the smell of death immediately assaulted my nose. Maybe it was because of the five vampires standing in front of us. Yeah, that might be it.

All the vamps were dressed in old Victorian clothes; they all looked like the traditional vampires from old horror movies, with the white dress shirts with the frilly sleeves and lace collars. They all had on the same black leather pants, making them look like clones. I was beginning to wonder what it was with dead people and black leather.

"Did your master force you to dress like that, or are you all fashion impaired?" I asked sarcastically, a small grin forming on my face.

They didn't say anything, so I assumed that meant yes. I reached out with my power to estimate their ages. They were all about thirty years or so. No problem for Heero.

I stepped forward. "Where's Hilde?" They all stepped back and off to one side, like a living curtain. Their movement revealed a girl sitting in a chair, hunched over so that I could only see the top of her head. Her head was bowed, so I couldn't see her face. Then she looked up. Piercing blue eyes met mine. Hilde.

"Alright, we're here. Now let her go," Wufei said.

"I don't think so." A woman's voice came from the rafters. Suddenly, she dropped down in front of us, a black cloak billowing around a black body suit, leaving nothing to the imagination.

"Murdida!"

"You see," she said, "this is a trap. Attack!"

"Kisama!" I heard Wufei yell as he was attacked by two vampires. Two other vamps tumbled into Heero. I was left with Murdida, Hilde, and a random vampire. He was tall, had a blue bandana around his head and a spiked bracelet around each wrist. He stared at me for a couple minutes with his liquid brown eyes, then charged.

I barely managed to dodge out of the way. He looked back up from where he had crouched down. He was crouching over where I would have been if I hadn't moved. A stinging pain brought to my attention the cut on my arm. My jacket had a rip in it. "Dammit! I just bought this jacket!" No one messes with my wardrobe and gets away with it.

I whipped out my gun and aimed at his head. But the second I looked over, he phased out of sight. "Crap, where did he"

The vamp stood in front of me, an evil grin on his face, revealing both fangs. I fired my gun, more from shock than anything else. It hit him in the heart, and he flinched and staggered back a bit.

"Didn't think I'd be using silver bullets, huh?" I sneered as I took that time to leap back. Murdida just stood beside Hilde, a smug look on her face. I wanted to wipe the floor with her damn face. Hilde just stared at me blankly. Her stare caught me off guard, and the other vampire tackled me.

"Shit!" I struggled, throwing my power against him, but I couldn't conjure enough power to throw him off me completely. I made him lose his grip long enough for me to get clear and fire off some more bullets into his head. He dodged most of them, and others landed in his chest. Once again, my gun clicked on empty while facing a vampire. I hated that.

*BLAM!*

The chest of the vampire exploded out, and itty bits of bloody flesh flew all over the place. I was covered in some of it. I looked over to the source of the gunshot.

Thank the gods for Wufei. He had already taken care of his two vampires. Their bodies were lying behind him, decapitated and with holes where their hearts should be. Wufei was holding the shot gun with the left hand, his sword in his right hand. I wonder where he kept that thing...

"What are you waiting for Maxwell? Chop off his head!"

Oh, right. I pulled out my two knives. They were about the length of my forearm; these knives were more like daggers. I sliced off the head of the vamp, making two clean swipes with my knives. The head slid off, landing on the ground with a plop sound. Heero had just ripped off the heads of his two vampires. I watched with a gruesome fascination as he stuck a hand in each of their chests and pulled out a heart from each of them. One of them was still beating. The bodies fell onto the floor, and Heero threw the hearts on their respective bodies. He looked at me, a cold resolution in his eyes. Something was wrong.

I turned back to more pressing matters. Hilde still stared at me, her eyes as blank as a computer screen. "Hilde, what's wrong?" I asked worriedly.

"She can't hear you. She's under Thanatos' control."

"You bitch!"

"Hey, it's not me you're after. Take it up with Thanatos."

"Where is he?"

"I'll tell you, if you come with me."

I was really mad now. I didn't want to cooperate with these vampires. They were nothing but trouble. "Tell me where the hell is Thanatos." I suddenly got my answer. I felt someone's presence behind me. I didn't want to turn around and give my back to Murdida, so I side stepped to the side and put my back to the wall, so I could keep an eye on both of them.

The new person wore tight leather pants, a fishnet shirt, with fingerless gloves and knee high boots. This guy looked like he was from a strip club. In fact, many vampires look like they're from a strip club. I was beginning to wonder if they all worked at Bloody Delights.

"I'm right here, lover boy." This new vampire was not as powerful as Murdida. I could feel his age at around 500 years. That was about half as much as Murdida. I could understand why he prostrated himself in front of her. But Murdida had spoken about her master, Morbius, in a previous encounter. Who could be more powerful than a thousand year old vampire?

"Maybe one who was older." Dammit, stupid mind-reading vamps.  
"Can't a guy keep his thoughts to himself?"  
"Not unless you learn to hide your thoughts." He smirked, like he knew everything about me. I wanted to shoot him. His steady gaze wasn't helping. His eyes raked my body, probably picturing me naked in some lewd position. I knew that look, I had it myself sometimes when I looked at Heero. But this was a full leer, with pure lust written all over his face. I didn't like it one bit. I felt my face growing hot, and I looked away. Bad idea.

I felt his energy suddenly surge, then he charged forward. I jumped away, but the wall was to my back and all I managed to do was travel a little further away from him, but closer towards Murdida and Hilde. I slid down a bit, my knees giving way to my weight as I slid down to sit on my butt. I was feeling kinda frightened. No one scares the god of death; but why was I frightened by this one vampire? Murdida didn't scare me, and she was twice as old as Thanatos was!

"Frightened, lovely one? A mask of fear isn't becoming on your face; you should always wear a smile... or a grimace of pain." Okay, THAT was creepy, especially the way he said it. He stared at me, a grin playing on his face as he started to crawl towards me. I backed up into a corner. He stood up and caught me with his eyes. He didn't turn me, which surprised him. "You... you aren't a normal, are you? That makes you even more tempting..."

"Lay off."

Heero stared at him, a cold fire burning his eyes. "No one may touch him." He glided over to stand next to me. He was a step in front of me, to protect me. I think.

"I sense his marks on you; he is your master, isn't he?" He smirked when Heero's stance wavered a bit. "Don't tell me you're being controlled by this pathetic excuse for a vampire. He doesn't have enough power to control a fly!"

"That's not true." I didn't expect Heero to stand up for me, at least, not in this aspect. He usually just let me fight my own battles. "Duo-sama is strong." That was all he said.

I stood up. Heero's strength was flowing through me, giving me the power to stare back at Thanatos.

"Thanatos. Let Hilde go. Now."

He shook his head playfully, his face all smiles. "Nope, she's a pretty little thing. I think I'll keep her for a little while longer."

"You bastard!" I lunged forward to punch him, but Heero caught me. "Heero! What are you doing? Lemme go!"

"Heh, it seems like your servant won't even listen to you. You're pathetic. I can't wait until I have you under my control."

Murdida raised a hand and Thanatos levitated over to her. He stood behind Hilde, untying her. Murdida looked at me for a few moments, then grabbed Hilde's face and kissed her deeply. And the worst thing was that Hilde enjoyed it. I could see it, even from the side. She liked every touch, every caress that any of them gave her. She would even be in bliss if they pulled her heart out. Damn them.

When Murdida pulled away, Hilde was looking at her longingly, like Heero had looked at me that one night a long time ago in Anita's apartment. Shit.

"Thanatos?" Murdida asked, like he already knew the question. He probably did.

"I know. Hilde, take care of them. But don't hurt the braided one. I want him in one piece so I can ravish him." Thanatos and Murdida then slipped off into the night. I didn't even see them leave, they just blinked out of sight.

Now Hilde stood there, staring at me with those ice blue eyes. Then she did a backward flip and attacked Wufei.

"Wufei! Don't hurt her!" I yelled before I realized that I would be endangering his life. Wufei dodged out of the way, dropping his shotgun and bringing up his sword. Hilde just growled at him. I ran towards them. Hilde turned towards me.

"Hilde! You gotta listen to me, wake up!" She just stared at me blankly. I closed my eyes. ~_Please forgive me_,~ I thought before I entered her mind.

I had never done anything like that before, and that was probably why I got kicked out of her mind so quickly. But it gave me enough time to ram her into a wall. "Hilde! Dammit, listen!" She wouldn't, and she grabbed my arms and started to pulse power through me. I screamed as a hot burning feeling ran down my arms. I felt like I was being burned alive. I forced out my own power, knocking me away from her. We stared for a moment, before her eyes flickered. She turned and started to run towards the door.

"Wait!" I yelled as I reached to grab her. I didn't want her going back to that vampire. I managed to tear off some of her shirt. I was left with Wufei and Heero, staring into the night, with a piece of cloth in my hands. "Hilde..."

We came back near midnight. We all had a few scratches and bruises. Now that we had trained and honed our powers, we didn't get hurt as much as we used to. That was good thing; I was feeling bad because of all the money we cost Quatre in first aid supplies.

Quatre and Trowa weren't awake when we came back. In fact, they were upstairs. It was really quiet, so Wufei just took his motorcycle and went back home. He needed to be with Sally and Liu Po, anyway.

Heero and I changed, washed up and went to bed. I sensed some strange feeling from Heero. I didn't know what it was, but it kinda unnerved me. I didn't fall asleep until later, watching Heero sleep. He didn't cuddle me or hold me like he usually does. I finally closed my eyes, and fell into a troubled sleep.

Oh well, just another day for us supernatural people.

Another groggy morning. I hated mornings, or more specifically, mornings after a vampire fight. But today was the day that our paperwork would go through. We could move within the week. My stuff was in boxes in my room at Quatre's house. Once the papers were approved, we could move out and stop bumming off Quatre.

I looked at the clock on the nightstand. It read 11:30 AM. I must have slept in. I usually don't get up this late. I usually get up at 10 AM.

I walked downstairs, smelling the sweet scent of coffee and toast. Heero had gone off to work. He still worked with the Preventers. I guess he could never get that soldier blood out of him. Wufei and Sally work there too, but Sally gets to have maternity leave. The rest of us work there every once in a while. I usually worked with Howard as a Sweeper, fixing up old pieces of junk and stuff.

I grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down at the table. A plate of toast was left there, a note lying on the napkin next to it. I read the note, twice. It said,  
"_Dear Duo,  
Trowa and I are going to work at the Preventer's Office for a while. Don't worry, they only need a few of us, so you can stay home. Don't forget to call Howard, he left a message for you last night. Bye, Quatre._"

I ate my toast and drank my coffee before going to the phone.

"Hey Howard, it's Duo."  
"Duo! How've you been?"  
"It's been one hell of a vacation, I tell you that."  
"Really? What's been going on?"

I told him about the vampire attacks, all the supernatural crap that's been happening to me and the latest plot to get me to join them. Howard listened to it all, without interrupting me. I was starting to think he didn't believe me.

"Duo, I know this may sound harsh, but from what you've told me, you need a longer break to help sort things out."  
"But Howard"  
"You need more time, Duo. I can hear the strain in your voice. You sound more tired now, and it's not because of the war. Take a couple more months. Don't worry, I've got a couple of guys working here to keep things in line. You take care of that vampire problem of yours. I get the feeling it'll be really important. I'll see ya." *Click.*

"Bye." I hung up, not even getting the chance to say good bye. He had just given me a couple more months off. I couldn't decide for the life of me if I was really happy, or really depressed.

I wandered around the house, bored out of my mind. I had two whole months to mess around. Well, not really. Like Howard said, I needed to take care of the vampire problem. I walked towards my room. I went in and picked up the wedding invitation from Hilde. It said, "You are invited to the Wedding of Hilde and Gabriel, held on June 30, AC 198." It was already mid-May.

I had met Gabriel right after he and Hilde had met. They were out on a date while I was walking down the street. I stopped and we talked for a while. Gabriel was a head taller than me, with jet black hair that he slicked back; but a few strands escaped and fell around his eyes. He had brown puppy dog eyes and high cheek bones. He was wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans, but the simple outfit gave him that sophisticated look. I would say he was a pretty good lookin' guy. Not as sexy as Heero, though.

I finally decided to get to reading some of those books that Anita had lent me. It turns out that vampires don't burn up and disintegrate when they see sunlight. They usually just get all weak and dizzy, like a bad allergy. A really old vampire can ignore the sun, provided that they are powerful enough. But they still get weaker when the sun is up. That would explain why Heero takes naps in the afternoons, and why I didn't like mornings and liked staying inside during the day.

After a few hours of reading, my head was dizzy and my vision was kinda blurry. I put down the books and went outside. Quatre owns a huge piece of land; it even has a small forest behind it. I go to the swing that Quatre had built on the edge of the forest. It hangs from a branch on one of the trees. I guess he and Trowa like sitting out here sometimes.

I sat down, slowly rocking back and forth. I closed my eyes. A voice came to me. "Practice your meditating..." Of course Shinigami would tell me to do something like that. But he was right; time was of the essence and I needed to get stronger, as soon as possible.

So I sat in the swing, enjoying the spring air and the silence. A lot of people don't think I can sit still in a quiet place and not make any noise. They're all wrong, of course. Sitting here gives me time to think, time to reflect. I can be really quiet if I want to.

Something didn't quite click about Hilde being a vampire and me not knowing about it. Was she always a vampire? Nah, then she wouldn't have been able to walk around in the day. And why didn't Gabriel call? He had my phone number, and I had met the guy several times. We got along pretty well, and he understands that Hilde is like a sister to me, and that if anything should happen to her, he should call me first. The last time I had gone to my apartment, I hadn't gotten any messages. You think someone would notice if their fiance was gone during the nights.

Then it hit me; quite literally actually, since a small branch fell on my head at the same time I had the thought. What if Gabriel was a vampire?

I rushed back inside and called Hilde's apartment. No answer. I don't like jumping to conclusions, but this was a definite sign. Gabriel was a vampire.

I waited for the others to come back home before spilling the news. "I think Gabriel may be a vampire." Heero didn't look shocked at all, and Quatre and Trowa just looked a bit surprise. But if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. How else Could Hilde be a vampire and Gabriel not know it?

"If that's true, then you think they're at Bloody Delights?" Heero said.  
I nodded. "Call Wufei. We'll need his help." I headed for my room to get my weapons.

"Wait."

I turned around. Trowa looked at me, and something shimmered behind his eye. The beast within. [1]

"I'm going with you guys this time," Trowa said calmly.  
"What?" Quatre asked. He grabbed his hand, pulling him back closer to him. He looked at Trowa, his eyes wide with worry and fear. "Trowa, do you have to?"  
Trowa smiled, the green eye that wasn't hidden by his hair twinkling a bit. "I think I have to learn to accept my powers, and help our friends. Don't you think that's the right thing to do?"  
Quatre agreed and let him go. "Just... just be careful." Trowa nodded, and went with me upstairs to get some better clothes.

I walked into my room and changed into my vampire hunting clothes. That is, the black shirt, black jeans and black sneakers. And the dark blue jacket, which now had a tear in the right sleeve, thanks to a stupid little vampire minion. I put all my weapons on and went back downstairs.

Trowa was wearing a loose lavender shirt with a large v-neck, and loose checkered pants. He looked like he was wearing pajamas.  
"Trowa..."  
He held up a hand to stop me from asking. "Changing forms in tight clothes isn't efficient." He didn't have to say anymore. I remembered the transforming process. I guess he didn't want to have his good clothes all torn up.

Heero had mysteriously gotten dressed when I wasn't paying attention. Either that, or he was dressed like that this morning. I wasn't awake so I wouldn't know. He was dressed in dark olive brown khakis, and a hooded t-shirt that had a blue strip on top and the rest was white. The shirt had red 'W' printed in the middle. He looked pretty good in it.

Wufei was also there. He had gotten here quickly... "Hey Wufei, did you fly here or something?"  
"No, I took a side road. It only takes a few minutes to get here from my house."  
"Oh..." So that's how he always managed to get here in record breaking time. I always thought he had jet engines attached to his motorcycle.

Wufei was wearing a tight orange shirt and baggy black pants. He also had these military boots that went a little higher then his ankle. His sword was attached to his belt, and he had a gun in a holster on the other side of his belt. I was betting he had a few knives in his boots as well. [2]

"Ready to go?" I asked everyone. I got various nods. "Okay. Quatre, don't wait up for us. We'll come back, I promise." I turned to the others. "C'mon, we'll take my jeep."

We drove to the downtown area of the inner city. Most tourists don't know about this part of the city. It's the part that the Information for Tourists Association tries to hide. But it's there, and tourists go there anyway. [3]

My car could barely fit into the alleyways as we made out way towards Bloody Delights. If you don't remember, this place was a hot bed for vampires. Really. It was a strip club for those people who couldn't get enough thrill in their love life. What better way to have sex than to be scared shitless by someone with fangs. Yeah, right.

A car came up behind us as I was driving. I looked into the mirror. I saw another jeep like mine, except their jeep was full of vampires. One of them leaped onto my car. I hit the accelerator and the vampire skidded off, not able to get a good grip. Good thing I had my car waxed the other day.

I heard a thump as the other jeep ran over their comrade. I laughed, and drove out onto an empty road. It was the staff parking lot for Bloody Delights. I wasn't surprised when I noted that it was empty. Vampires don't have to drive when they can fly.

The other car pulled up behind us, another vampire on the hood, waiting to leap over. I did a 90-degree turn and drove away from them, but their jeep just followed us and we ended up side by side. There were about four vampires in the car, and one on the hood. Not bad, considering that three of us could take out 5 of them. This time, we had four. I think the odds were in our favor.

Heero leaped out of my car and into theirs. I pulled away, turning the car fully around. Trowa and Wufei hopped out and joined Heero in the battle. I had to turn off the car and grab my keys before I could jump out and help them.

The fight was now taking place in the middle of the parking lot past their jeep. Heero had knocked most of them out of the car. The only one left was the driver.

Heero was being grabbed from both sides. Trowa and Wufei ran towards him and both leapt gracefully over the vampire's jeep. I watched as Trowa's form changed into the lion-man and he leaped onto one of the vampires that was holding onto Heero. Wufei jumped up and kicked another vamp in the face.

I brought out my gun and shot the driver. He got a mouthful of silver before his head exploded. I quickly ran up to him and brought out one of my knives. I stabbed it into his heart, getting blood all over my shirt. Blood is a pain to wash out, but fortunately, this was a black shirt.

I turned around to see another vampire behind me, the one who had been run over. There were a few skid marks on his face, but they were healing quickly. I rammed my elbow into his crotch, and he screeched. I brought my knife up into his ribcage, forcing it into his heart. He reached out for my throat. I drew away before he could reach me, and threw some power at him. He fell off the edge of the door, and I leapt over the side, landing on his arms. I reached out, grabbed his neck and squeezed. I may not be as strong as Heero, but I can still do a lot of damage. I tried what Hilde did to me and forced a burning power through me, into his throat. There was a garbled scream before his eyes rolled back into his head. That was a little too easy. I backed away, and I bumped into the car.

A pair of hands grabbed my throat. I fought back, but the grip was tough. I closed my eyes and felt the power, felt what was trying to kill me. I reached into its mind, closing an imaginary fist on their life force. The hands dropped.

As I caught my breath, the vampire in front of me started to rise. I held my hand out, not really knowing what I was doing. I had not decapitated the vampire, which meant it was still alive. But it wasn't as strong as it was before. I held out my wrist and he took it, sinking fangs into me and taking my blood.  
"Stop," I commanded  
He stopped.

I pointed at the vampire that was attacking Heero. "Kill him."

The vamp-zombie hopped over the car and grabbed the throat of the other vampire. "What are you doing?" the other vampire managed to say before my vampire cracked his neck. Heero did a flying spin kick and took the head right off. I guess Wufei taught him a couple of things. But then he looked at me, then looked at my vamp-zombie. I heard his whisper in my mind. ~What is this?~

I just shook my head. ~I'll explain later,~ I whispered back.

I pointed my gun at my creation. "Sorry pal, your job is done." I shot his head and it exploded into many pieces. Heero reached into his chest and crushed his heart. I could feel it faintly, but the pain wasn't that bad. What bothered me was that I could feel it at all...

"Trowa!" Wufei usually doesn't call out someone's first name like that. Heero and I looked over and saw Trowa on the ground, bleeding everywhere. Shit. "Trowa!" I screamed as I rushed over. The two vampires that hurt Trowa had pinned down Wufei. I killed one of them with a shot in the head and then another shot in the heart. Heero took out the other one with one powerful punch. Wufei was once again splattered in blood and guts. But now wasn't the time to complain. Wufei got up, and we all rushed over to Trowa.

"Trowa, speak to me!" I looked at his prone body. I delicately gathered him up into my arms and gently flipped him over onto his back, with help from Wufei. He was pretty messed up. One of his arms was twisted farther than it should have. He had various bite marks on him, and there was a long gash in his stomach. His clothes were ripped and his eyes were shut with pain.

"I'll be okay," he whispered. "Take... take me to Quatre..." Wufei and Heero carefully carried him to my jeep. I followed them. A light suddenly shown on the road. It came from the building, Bloody Delights. It was the back door. A shadow appeared. Silhouetted against the light, a lone figure stood. I looked for a little bit longer. His slick jet black hair and brown eyes gave away his identity. "Gabriel..." I muttered. I knew he heard me, because he smiled, a feral grin. He knew all about this.

Wufei sat with Trowa in the back, while Heero and I sat in the front. We didn't look at each other; tonight was too confusing for either of us to comprehend. "Drive carefully," Heero said. "I will," I replied. I put the keys in and we headed home.

I guess Gabriel will have to wait.

And when I do meet him, I'll have a reason to kill him.

* * *

[1]: "The Beast Within" is actually a computer game, part of the Gabriel Knight trilogy of mystery games...  
[2]: Look here for a picture of their clothing. Need I say more?  
[3]: I actually don't know, I don't live in San Francisco. But every city has a bad district that the travel agencies try to hide, so why not?  
Ack... I totally forgot that Duo can't spend his time hunting vampires... So I gave him a real life and a job...  
Anyway, feel free to e-mail me your rants and raves, just don't cuss me out, okay?


	7. Chapter 7

This is Part 7 of this fic. It has a touch of lemon (1x2/2x1), so be careful...  
Heero: Hn. 'Touch' my ass.  
Duo: Don't mind if I do...

This is my first GW fic series, there is some violence, strong language and it has the yaoi pairings of Heero & Duo (Ack, they're equal partners, so I guess I would say 2x1/1x2, right?) and Quatre and Trowa (once again, I don't want to be yelled at for not saying the correct pair. Let's just say they are equal partners as well). So if you don't like male/male pairings, then don't read this, or pretend that Quatre and Duo are chicks. Okay?

**Eternity of Blood**

**Part 7**

**By: Top Ace**

I pulled up into the driveway. Heero and Wufei carried Trowa into the house, while I decided to look for Quatre. I followed them into the house, after opening the door for them, of course. They put Trowa onto the sofa; he was still bleeding, but not as much as before. Most of the blood had dried to thin brownish flakes. I walked into the kitchen, and I found Quatre.

He was hunched over in the corner; his arms were clutching his stomach, and he was shivering.  
"Quatre! What's wrong?"  
"So... cold... Trowa..." He looked up to me, and I could see his blue eyes reflecting a deep pain. "Where's Trowa?"  
I pointed towards the living room. He got up and staggered towards him.

Quatre made it into the living room, while I walked behind him, making sure that he didn't fall. When he saw Trowa, he froze for a moment, then ran to him. He sank to his knees beside the couch, taking Trowa's hand and kissing it. "Trowa... I can feel your pain..." I walked up beside Heero, and we all watched as Quatre and Trowa closed their eyes.

"I... I can see everything Trowa... how could they do such a horrible thing?"  
Trowa's eye widened in surprise. "How do you know?"  
"I can feel it, I can see everything. It's almost like being in the Zero System..."

Across from me, Wufei gasped. "Quatre's a... he's a..."

"Well? Spill it Wufei!" I said.

"He's a clairvoyant."

We all were silent, until Trowa whispered in a pained voice, "What's that?"

"A clairvoyant is someone who has the power to see objects or events that cannot be perceived by the regular five senses; he can use a sixth sense to see visions and events just by touching something," Wufei explained. We all looked at Quatre who was starting to shiver again.

"I think he may be an empath as well," Wufei commented. [1]

"Don't shiver, Quatre." Trowa smiled at him, and reached a hand up to stroke his hair. Quatre calmed down a bit, and he stopped quivering. He reached a hand out to Trowa's stomach wound. "Don't touch it," Trowa warned. Quatre didn't listen, and placed a gentle hand on the gash. Trowa gasped with pain.

"I'm sorry, Tro-chan," Quatre whispered as a yellow light engulfed both of them. Then the light condensed to a single area around the wound. We all watched with a morbid fascination as the skin moved and shifted, and the wound healed itself. Then Quatre slumped over and fainted. "Quatre!" Trowa cried as we all rushed to help.

We all backed off when Trowa sat up, picked up Quatre and gently carried him away. "Don't worry, I will take care of him. Take care of your own injuries for now." He left, probably going upstairs.  
I looked at the others. "Well, now what?" I asked.  
"I'm going home," Wufei said. "I'll see you guys later."

And he left, leaving Heero and I to heal our wounds. It's kinda weird, the fact that we don't really have to bandage ourselves up anymore. I started using the word 'heal' instead of 'treat' because we weren't really treating our wounds with medicine or anything. I don't heal as quickly as Heero does, but I can still heal myself enough that I'll stop bleeding excessively. Remember that hole in his stomach? It was gone within the week. That's some serious healing.

I sat on the floor where I had fallen after Trowa had gotten up. He had startled me with his sudden recovery, so I fell flat on my ass. Very embarrassing.

Heero stood up; it was more like he was sitting one second and standing the next. "Could you help me up?" I asked. He looked at me, his eyes holding a dangerous gleam of rebellion in his eyes. Was he going to disobey me?

He walked away. The bastard walked away. I wanted to be angry, I wanted to have a hissy fit. But I didn't. I cried. I don't cry often. Hell, I haven't cried since the Maxwell Church Massacre.

Heero turned back, and looked at me. I know he felt hurt. I could see it in his eyes. I'm his master; I could feel his soul or whatever it was shake with remorse. But his physical body didn't show a thing; he was as unreadable as a book written with invisible ink. He walked back towards me, picked me up and carried me upstairs.

Once in my room, he unceremoniously dumped me on the bed. "Heero? What's up?" He looked at me again; his eyes had a brazen look to them. Was he questioning my authority? I shook my head to get rid of those thoughts. We were lovers; we were friends. But deep within me, a dark voice spoke. It spoke of masters and servants; power and blood. All of it was welled deep inside me, waiting to be unleashed. I didn't want to unleash it; I was afraid of the consequences.

Heero continued to look at me. "What the hell are you staring at?" I yelled. I clapped my hand over my mouth the minute I said it. Shit, I didn't want to piss him off. I love him.

He was suddenly in my face, his eyes inches from mine. His lips brushed mine, soft like silk. I touched the gossamer strands of his brown hair. "Heero..." He didn't say anything as he devoured my mouth, putting himself on top of me.

"You're not powerful enough to control me," he whispered huskily into my ear.

That spoiled the mood. I pushed him away from my face, and he sat up. But he was still sitting on me, straddling my waist. I could feel him getting hard. "I created you," I said shakily. "Well, not really, but I created your vampire form. Aren't you supposed to obey me?"

He didn't answer for a moment, then finally he whispered, "You're not really sure, are you?"

I shook my head. I may have created him, but was I really in charge? I was in charge, until about an hour ago. At least, I thought I was...

He was suddenly on top of me again, tasting my lips with his tongue. "You're mine," he growled. It wasn't a seductive gesture; it was a move for power. He wanted to be in control. I could feel his power flow over me, trying to overwhelm me, trying to make me submit. I fought back with my own, our energy clashing between us. I wouldn't let him take me easily. I love him, hell, I'd die for him. But I won't become an inferior. I had to be on equal terms. I hate being dominated. I had enough of that when I was young.

He obviously didn't like me trying to fight back, so he pulsed more power into me. We just lay there, vibrating power through each other.

"Ahhhhhh..." I moaned and shut my eyes. I finally gave in, and let his power flow over me, hot and heavy. It was like a soft fur coat flowing over me. He smirked. He won this round. I was too tired to fight back tonight. The only reason I wasn't too angry was because I loved him. I always have.

But I'm not sure if I always will.

I wasn't sure if it was a dream, or if it was reality. I prayed that it was a dream. I awoke, no, I don't think I was really awake. I felt out of it, feeling everything as a third entity. I could see Heero taking me, moaning his release, and I could see myself lying there, being as unresponsive as a log. Why? I wanted him, dammit. I wanted to feel his body moving against mine, his hardness pounding into me. I wanted to feel everything; I wanted to enjoy it.

But I couldn't. How can I, when he just claimed me like a trophy?

I felt myself come and I fell back into a deep sleep, Heero still moving inside me...

I woke up to a sore ass and an empty bed. Damn that Yuy. Why the hell did he have to do this? He's losing it.

Then it suddenly became clear. Why else would he rebel? It's almost like how teenagers rebel against their parents. It was all so clear now. The rebelling, the refusal to listen to my commands. He didn't think I was strong enough to be his master. Looks like I'll have to prove myself.

But one thing I didn't understand; why doesn't he listen to me anyway, since he says loves me? Doesn't our love mean anything to him?

Then, while I was brushing my teeth, I got an idea, an epiphany. His vampire side was getting the better of him. He was slowly losing his humanity. Goddamn it.

Before I headed downstairs, I checked on Quatre. I walked straight into his bedroom, because the door was still broken. I had bashed it in the night Trowa shapeshifted. I guess he never got around to fixing it. I'll have to repair it, since I have a few months off anyway.

Quatre was lying peacefully on the bed, his blond hair disheveled and lacking that healthy glow. He had a wet towel on his forehead. Trowa was no where to be seen. I kneeled down next to Quatre. "Hey buddy... I hope you get better soon..."

I heard someone kneel down next to me. "Hey Trowa, didn't hear you come in," I whispered. I was amazed by how much Trowa had recovered in one night. I guess lycanthropes have really good healing abilities.

I got up and moved out of the way so Trowa could re-soak the wet towel in cool water. He had brought a tray with a teapot and two cups. "Sorry I didn't bring you one," he said.  
"It's okay. Um, is Quatre okay? Nothing serious?"  
He shook his head. "No, nothing serious."

Quatre's eyes fluttered open. "G'morning guys."

I smiled, and Trowa took the towel off of Quatre's head. "Feeling better?" I asked.  
"Yeah, I feel fine."  
"Good, then maybe you could look at something for me..."

I got an immediate glare from Trowa, but I didn't really pay attention to him at first. Quatre said he was okay, and I needed to find out where the vampires took Hilde. But the steady gaze from Trowa was starting to get to me after a while.

"It's for Hilde, isn't it?" Quatre asked. I nodded. "Then let me see." He held his hand out for the scrap of cloth.

I pulled out the piece of cloth that I had torn from Hilde's shirt and handed it to Quatre. It had been in my pocket since the other night. "Can you try to see something from this?" I asked hopefully.

He took it and closed his eyes. "I might not get anything, you know. I'm still new at this." I just said okay, and let him do his work.

"I see... I see Hilde. She's being tied up, but she isn't fighting back. I think she's letting them tie her up."

I figured that. The vampires were controlling Hilde. I just had to figure out where they were hiding. "Anything else?"

"Um... No. I can't see that far back."

Damn. "Thanks anyway," I said, and I took the piece of cloth and placed it in my pocket. "Maybe," Quatre said, "if you get me a little more. Maybe you should find something else for me to touch."

I nodded and headed downstairs. Looks like I had another mission tonight.

I spent the rest of the day sitting on the bench thinking. It wasn't something I usually do. But this entire day was just an excuse for me to do nothing. I had to wait until night, so the Wharf wouldn't be crowded with people. I didn't want any innocent bystanders getting hurt. The less they know, the better.

I fell asleep on the bench, thinking about Heero. Just a mere thought of him ran a chill through me. It was beginning to scare me. Was last night really a dream? Or did it happen? I didn't want to think about it, but the thoughts just kept coming. Why does this always happen to me?

When I woke up, it was near sun down. I had slept since lunch, and my stomach was growling. I got up to go back to the house.

"Looking for me?" Heero leaped down from the branch that the bench was attached to.  
"We have a mission, Heero."  
"I thought the war was over."  
"Not against the undead. Let's go." I started to leave, then stopped when I realized he wasn't following me. I turned around and he wasn't there. I turned back around and saw him appear a few feet away from me, smirking. He disappeared again as I watched and reappeared a little further away. "Catch me," he whispered. I could feel his voice wash over me like a warm shower. I snorted and ran after him. If he wants to be caught, then who else better to catch him but me?

I ran through the field, my heart racing, my blood pulsing through me, giving me strength. The adrenaline surged through me, giving me the power to phase. [2]

I caught up to Heero, tackling him, throwing my entire body at him. We tumbled to the ground, laughing. As we caught our breaths, I felt him run a hand through my hair.

"Duo, gomen about last night..."

He apologized. I can't believe it. I looked at him. His eyes showed his true nature, the caring yet stoic young man I had fallen in love with. "Heero," I whispered. "I love you." I don't know how many times I may have said that to him, but this time, it felt different. Like I had said it for the first time.

"I know," was all he said. He didn't need to say it back. I could feel it. We lay in the grass for a while, enjoying each other's company. Suddenly, I frowned.

He looked at me, an eyebrow raised. "What is it?"

"Why are you being all... spontaneous?" For lack of better vocabulary; I couldn't think of any other way to explain it. One moment he's a demanding vampire, and another moment he's being human. I wish he would make up his mind. But I guess this is my fault. Vampires aren't supposed to have souls. I had kept his soul, trapped it in his body in an attempt to resurrect him.

He shrugged. "I don't know. I just feel... human for a change."

What was going on? Had he truly lost his humanity when I changed him? I asked him, "What do you mean 'human'? Didn't you feel like that before the accident?"

He shook his head. "Iie. For the first time, I feel... alive."

I lifted my head and looked around. The sun had set and left the stars, glowing brightly in the black cloth of the night. The moon was but a thin crescent, it's light shining dimly to illuminate Heero's features. My fallen angel.

"Life has a new meaning. No more missions, no more fighting. I won't have to kill anymore."

That struck me like an arrow in the heart. Heero would have to kill again. He would have to fight. Being what we were, we didn't have a choice. Looking at his angelic face, I just wanted to hold him and tell him everything was right with the world, that I could keep the scary things away. But I couldn't. I don't lie to anyone.

"We... we have to fight. It's what we have to do, to protect the innocent."

Shit. Shit shit shit. I did not want to see his eyes lose their light, to see his features sag to a sad frown. He looked away from me, his eyes staring at the grass across from his face. "I'm... I'm really sorry," I mumbled.

Something flashed in his eyes. Then he suddenly pushed me off. "Come on. We have a mission." He got up and disappeared.

I think Heero is a little more unstable than I had first thought.

I finally reached the house, gasping for air and sweaty. With my adrenaline running on low, I found it hard to move as fast as I had before. In fact, I found it hard to move in general. I walked into the glass door before realizing I had to open it. No going through walls for me.

I got my weapons from my room; never leave home without them. As I walked to the front door, I felt Quatre watching me from the stairs. I looked back at him, and he was smiling. "Be careful," he said quietly. I nodded and headed out.

I moved towards my jeep, strapping on the holsters and wrist sheaths as I walked. I hopped in over the door, and suddenly Heero materialized next to me. He was sitting in the passenger seat, one leg crossed over the other. He was wearing the usual green tank top and spandex shorts. He eyed me for few moments, then stared forward again.

We drove to the Wharf in silence. Besides my breathing and heartbeat, there was no sound. Heero was being as dead as a doorknob. Hell, he WAS dead. The quietness was thick enough to choke on.

And I choked on it. "So, where were you?" My voice sounded calmer than I felt.  
He shrugged. "Elsewhere."  
I hate it when he's being vague. I pressed him for more information. "Where elsewhere?"  
"Nowhere."

He was being difficult. In fact, he was being more than difficult; he was being a bitch about this. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. I pulled over into an alleyway. "At least tell me where you were. You don't need to tell me what you were doing or anything."

He just stared at me. I felt that defiant power rise out of him again.

"Oh no you don't, you are not going to get all rebellious on me." I've had enough of this crap. That anger fueled the fire, and my own energy trickled forth, slowly at first, then came pouring out of me. It mingled with his energy, making it hard to breathe because of all the power weighing the air down. It was like an invisible wall pushing on my chest. He got bolder, and increased his force. In the dark, I could see him glow a dark shade of purple; it was an aura. I raised my own power to create a shield around me. I could see a faint glow reflecting off of Heero's eyes. It was my aura; I was blue.

"Heero... What do you think you're doing... disobeying your master..."

"I'm... gonna... smother you... into submission..."

He pushed harder; the energy threatened to choke me, his power closing around my neck. Then the energy changed slightly, from threatening to sexual. It felt he was trying to ram his hard member down my throat. It was deliciously addictive, and I wanted more. But I also needed to breathe. I forced him out, as much as I hated to, and threw enough power at him to knock him into the car door.

He smirked. Dammit, he smirked. Then he did the unexpected. He threw off his tank top. He put one of his legs up onto the seat, so he was facing me. I could see his bulge in his shorts. All this power struggling had been turning him on. He stared at me, a look that promised violence and sex. His lust rode the air, and I could smell it. He was a horny little bastard.

"If you're really my master," he said, "then take me." He peeled off his shorts...

Oh my god. I never thought anyone could be that hard. I suppose being a vampire has some advantages. I could see that tight ass of his, and I suddenly wanted to thrust myself into him; I wanted to feel his velvet inside, to feel him shuddering underneath me. I wanted to hear him scream my name. I shook my head. He was invading my mind; I didn't want to screw him silly right now. We had a mission... But, he was so inviting...

~_Take me... fuck me to your heart's content..._~

~_Stop it Heero! Stop it!_~

I'm pathetic. I have no self-control. I unzipped my pants and pulled out my cock. I thrusted into him mercilessly, taking out my frustrations on him. I didn't want to, I really didn't. But there he was, offering me his body. Fine. If he wanted proof that I was master, then I'll give him proof.

I fucked him. Fucked his ass like there was no tomorrow. For all I knew, that could be true.

I came in a blinding rush, the power coursing through me. I gasped, and thrust into him one last time, then I stilled my movements, just enjoying the feeling of being inside him. I watched his pupils dilate, and then his eyes became entirely midnight blue. He stared at me with those inhuman eyes, watching me watch him. It was kinda erotic. I slumped over on top of him. Something nudged my stomach. He was still rock hard. I don't know how he lasted this long.

Then I felt it. I was inside him, his mind, his soul. I could see everything. I saw his past, I felt his thoughts. I saw where he went yesterday. He was with Relena.

I started thrusting into him again, out of frustration. "Dammit! How could you?" I pounded into him, as hard as I could. I know he felt the pain; I was still in touch with his mind, and I could feel it.

"You haven't seen all of it," he whispered.

I searched for the memory. And I watched it. He and Relena were talking. Just talking. I read their lips. The memory didn't have sound for some reason. The only thing I could hear was my own breath and the slapping sound of my balls against his ass. They were talking... about me. I saw my name being mouthed several times. Heero had asked her... Oh no...

He had left without laying a hand on her. She had given him a hug, but that was just for comfort reasons. She does that sometimes. No, Relena didn't want to steal Heero away. And Heero didn't want her in that way. They both cared about me, in different ways. Heero had gone to her to find out how to please me.

And I had been jealous. I had been a jealous son of a bitch. I immediately stopped pounding into Heero, and pulled myself out. He was bleeding all over. "I'm sorry," I whispered. "I am so sorry..." I looked at his body. He was still hard, and he was shaking ever so slightly. I bent down and licked the blood off his ass.

"S'okay," he murmured. He put a hand on my head, petting me gently. I licked away all of the blood, then I went to his hardness. I deepthroated him, going up and down, sucking it as hard as I could. I wanted him to scream.

"Duo!"

He came, his power and spunk flowing into my mouth.[3] I swallowed it all, tasting the energy. It just blew my mind. It flowed through me like electricity, giving me power, but draining me at the same time. It was a totally new experience.

I sat up. He sat up and looked into my eyes, then looked down. My cock had blood lines running down it. Heero went down on me, lapping at the tip and washing me off with his tongue. He cleansed me, making me free of blood.

His mouth was so good; he was sucking it so hard and going up and down so rapidly. It was so wonderful... And once again, I came in a rush of power, the energy running through my body and into Heero's. "I still don't think you're powerful enough to be my master," he said.

"I don't care," I replied. "Love doesn't have a master."

It was amazing. I wasn't tired after climaxing twice. Usually I was exhausted, but this time, I was invigorated with new strength. We drove the rest of the way to the warehouse in silence, but this time, it was a good silence.

We both hopped out of my jeep and walked into the building. It was dark and neither of us could see without at least a little bit of light. Heero found a light switch and flipped it on. The place lighted up immediately, and I had to blink a couple of times to get used to it. The place was as messed up as it was the last time I was here. The blood stains were still here, and a few patches of clothing were lying around. I pulled out a plastic bag out of my pocket. I used my power to levitate them into the bag. I don't wanna touch any bloody clothes.

We walked around, searching for more clues. Anything that might have some significance would be helpful for finding Hilde.

"Come back for more?"

Heero and I whirled around, to see Murdida and three other vampires following her, two on the right and one on the left. They were all wearing black body suits.

"Oh. It's the Leather League."  
"Very amusing, son of Shinigami. I will enjoy ripping your head off."

I laughed. I've heard enough death threats that they didn't matter anymore.

"You'd stop laughing if you knew who my compatriots are."  
"Yeah? So who are they?"  
"Don't you recognize this one?" She pointed at the vampire one her left. Heero hissed.

"Wha...? Heero?" Heero just stared at the vamp, his power growing with every second. I looked back and took a good look at him. The faces flashed. I knew who he was.

"You... You're the one who tried to kill Heero!" Well, technically, he DID kill him, but old habits die hard.

"Correction," Murdida said. "He's the one who tried to kill _you_."  
"Me?"  
"Of course. What do we need with a human? You're the one that Master Morbius wants dead. He wants to rule the Shadow Lands, and with your death, Master Morbius can kill Shinigami and take over."

Behind me, Heero's power increased.

Murdida laughed, an annoying high-pitched sound. "Enough talk. Attack!"

And so the fight began.

The vampire that had killed Heero lunged for my neck. I rolled out of the way, smacking into the wall in the process. I looked up to see him flying towards me, his fangs bared. I pulled out a knife and leaped forward, slashing open his stomach. He fell behind me, and I turned around and smirked. Bad idea.

He did a triple backwards flip like Trowa would, and landed behind me. Before I could turn around, he shot a power blast in my direction, knocking me through the wall, wood splinters going everywhere. Fortunately, the wall was thin and poorly constructed.

I was numb for a moment, then I could feel the cuts and bruises on my body. I was trying desperately to breathe, and the beating of my heart was the only thing I could hear for a while.

I looked up toward the hole I had made in the wall, and the vampire was standing, silhouetted in the soft light. His fangs were bared and shiny. It was like a scene from a horror movie.

I pulled out my gun and fired. Each shot formed a ripple around him. It was like throwing stones in a pond. None of the bullets hit him. In fact, I think he actually disintegrated them.

"You are no match for me. I don't know why the others thought it was so hard to kill you."

I smirked. "You obviously haven't heard of my past exploits." I got up and jumped onto the roof. I didn't know I could do that. He came after me, floating up like a ghost.

As he floated to my level, I put my hands together in front of me, palm out. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Everything that I had learned in the Shadow Lands had better work in this world. It would suck if it didn't. Hell, I'd be dead if this didn't work, so I wouldn't have time to complain.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

I let out a war cry while the power pulsed through my body, focusing into my hands, and shooting out at the vamp. He put a hand out to block it. It stopped at his hand, the energy wave diffracting everywhere. I pulled more energy into me, shooting forth. I drew in the power from within, and I let loose the darkness beneath; I never knew I had it.

The power blast went right through him and into his insides, leaving a hollow corpse. The blue energy dissipated and I kneeled down on the roof, catching my breath. During that blast, I had touched something deep inside me. It was something I didn't want to feel it again; it was frightening.

I hopped down from the roof and ran inside. I came in at just the right time. Heero was on the floor, not moving. The other two vamps were on top of him, tearing at his clothes.

"NO!" I threw two fireballs [4] at them, channeling my power through my hands. The fireballs knocked the vamps off of Heero, but I didn't have enough power to knock them into the wall. They leaped back and were standing next to Murdida.

"Aww... is the widdle heir angry?" She taunted in a sing-song voice. The other two vamps laughed.

I ignored them and ran over to Heero's unconscious body. He had deep gashes on his chest, and his shirt was ripped to shreds. His shorts were torn in the front, like one of them had stuck their hand inside and ripped the cloth from behind, trying to get to him. His face was pained, and he looked like the devil had raped him.

I turned my anger towards the two that had done this. I glared at them, my fists clenched with rage. This time, there was no turning back. I reached down into the depths of my power. I touched the darkness, and let it engulf me.

There was definitely no turning back from this. I could feel my senses being heightened. It was like being in the Zero System, only better. And I could control this. I think.

I put my right hand out in front of me, my palm facing one of the vamps. I stared at him, as if I could shoot lasers from my eyes and melt him. I felt the power coalesce, shaping a wondrous weapon of destruction. It didn't take a visible form; the power was just there, riding the air and making it thick with vengeance.

"No one touches Heero, except me!"

And I let the power fly. It hit the vampire standing on the right. He didn't even make a noise of surprise; he just froze for a moment, and then fell flat on his face. He was just a corpse again. I merely looked at the other vamp and he started bleeding from all his orifices. He went down on one knee, coughing up blood. "No..." he gurgled before I sent one last bit of power, exploding his heart within him. He fell forward, his eyes leaking out blood and a white fluid.

Murdida took a step back. I could hear her thoughts clearing, as if they were my own. ~_I didn't expect him to be this powerful. I must get out of here and warn Master Morbius._~

"Leaving so soon? Why not join the your friends?" I was arrogant now that I had defeated two vamps with a simple gaze. But I had underestimated Murdida's own power. She scowled before she threw me into another wall. It didn't break this time, and I felt the crack of a rib as she tackled me.

"Not so hot now, are you?" she sneered as she put her hand over my face. I felt a line of power slip through my defenses, wrapping around my mind like a spider web. "Stop!" I screamed. I knew what she was doing. She was linking us.

Before she could fully mark me, she suddenly flew to the side, hitting some empty crates. Heero was in front of me, staring at her. Without turning his head, he asked, "Are you okay?"

I nodded, and we both turned to Murdida. She glared at us, then disappeared. Heero and I looked over to the entrance where she had first entered.

"I will have you feeding out of my hand. Or else you will die, by my hand." She left, her red hair trailing after her into the night.

"Uh..." I groaned before I collapsed into Heero's arms.  
"Master?"  
"I thought I wasn't strong enough to be your master."  
"I regained consciousness while you were killing those other two vampires. I didn't know you were that powerful."

"Neither did I." And that power must have drained me more than I had originally thought, because I passed out in his warm embrace.

* * *

Part 8

Back to: Part 6

[1]: We're going to assume that all the G-boys know what an empath is. If you don't know, e-mail me and I'll explain.  
[2]: To phase: In this fic, phasing means moving so fast that if someone was watching you, it would look like you were blinking in and out of their vision. Kinda like in animes where there's an attack scene and you only see one frame flash at a time.  
[3]: Spunk is slang for cum... Just in case you didn't know...  
[4]: It's not really a fireball, just a powerball that glows blue... Like Ryu's Hadoken in Street Fighter.

Anyway, feel free to e-mail me your rants and raves, just don't cuss me out, okay?

Copyright reserved 2000 Top Ace


	8. Chapter 8

This is Part 8 of this fic. It's a flashback, so this all happened before the beginning of the story.  
This is my first GW fic series, there is some violence, strong language and it has the yaoi pairings of Heero & Duo (Ack, they're equal partners, so I guess I would say 2x1/1x2, right?) and Quatre and Trowa (once again, I don't want to be yelled at for not saying the correct pair. Let's just say they are equal partners as well). So if you don't like male/male pairings, then don't read this, or pretend that Quatre and Duo are chicks. Okay?

**Eternity of Blood**

**Part 8**

**By: Top Ace**

It was two years after the war with Mariemaia. Hilde and I had been working together on L2 as Sweepers, and she had made the little company into a major corporation, with branches on the other colonies. Howard owned part of the corporation and had his offices down on Earth. Hilde owned another part, and her offices were up in space. And I was the go-between.

Hilde and I had been going out for a while, but we found out that we weren't meant to be. After a few differences, we decided to just be friends. She found a friend who would work with her, and I had to go to the Earth anyway.

Why, you may ask? Sally called me the night after the break-up. She said that the Preventers might need an extra hand. On the same day, Howard wanted me to go down there to help on a special operation.

So I packed what little belongings I had, and boarded a shuttle for Earth the next day. I said goodbye to Hilde, and she told me that she would soon be coming to Earth too, since there were enough people up in space working under the Sweepers to take care of this. She hadn't been to the Earth ever, and wanted to take a vacation there. I promised I would take her around, and I left, without turning back. We were like brother & sister; I guess that's why our relationship didn't work. Nothing could really break our bond of friendship, though.

The last time I had come down to Earth was when I was piloting Deathscythe. That was four, almost five years ago. He's gone now; I scrapped him after the war. It's kinda funny that I still refer to my gundam as 'he', but I always felt as if Deathscythe had a mind of its own; kinda like a soul. Of course, with all that supernatural stuff I know, it could be true. But now I'll never know if it did have a spirit or not.

I landed in San Francisco's Marina Spaceport, in the middle of the rain. It was early December, and the weather was going to be gloomy until March. Great.

Sally and Wufei welcomed me. Wufei had definitely changed since I last saw him. He wore his shoulder-length hair down, and he had lost those ridiculous white pants and was wearing blue jeans. But he still had that blue tank top. Over that was a Preventer jacket. Sally was wearing nearly the same thing, except her jeans were dark green and her shirt was black. They greeted me with a smile and a warm hug.

"Hey Wufei, Sally. I see wedding rings... when did that happen?"

They smiled, and I swear that Wufei even blushed. "We got married a few months ago. Sorry that you couldn't come," Sally said.

Then I remembered. I was so busy with my Sweepers work that I couldn't go to their wedding. I sent them an e-greeting and left it at that. I suddenly felt really bad. "I'm really sorry about that, I was so busy at the time..."

"It's okay Duo. We're just glad you're here now," Wufei said. I smiled, and we all left the spaceport.

We took a taxi to the Preventer's headquarters in San Francisco. It wasn't a large building. In fact, it was dwarfed by the skyscrapers next to it. It was painted a nice beige, with blue accents. It was nice builidng.

Wufei showed me around. We walked here and there, catching up on past times. Turns out Wufei had a wife before he became a gundam pilot. Huh, who would have thought?

We walked around, meeting people. I saw Trowa and Quatre, who were working together on an assignment. We talked awhile, and I found out that they were married. Since San Francisco was practiacally open for gays, they could be legally married without much hooplah. I was very happy for them. I had never really noticed the looks they gave each other during our piloting days, but now, I saw the love and caring they shared. Kinda made me jealous.

Then Wufei showed me my office. The walls were a light blue and there was a big window to the left, with a grand view of the Golden Gate Bridge. There were a couple of plants in the far corners of the room. I thought the desk was rather large, until I noticed that it was actually two desks pushed back to back, facing the left and right side.

Then I noticed that it wasn't really my office. The first person I saw when I walked in was him. Heero Yuy, one of my best friends. He was the only other gundam pilot who had kept in regular contact with me. He came up to space every once in a while to visit me, and we would go out and get something to eat and we would talk. The guy actually talks if you let him. And he always talked in monotone, without any feeling. Mostly he talked about work, but at least it was something. I felt bad because I never had time to visit him, but then again, he never really invited me.

"Hey Heero, how's it goin'?" My usual greeting, but this time it was met with a surprised look, instead of 'Hn.'  
"Duo? What are you doing here?" He got up out of his desk and walked towards us.  
"Sally called me, so I came. Said something about needing me to help out around the place."

"Yes," Wufei interjected, "you're supposed to help Heero scope out a new gang. There's a rumor that they want to assasinate the mayor of San Francisco."  
"Who made you leader?" I asked him.

"Sally," he said with a smirk, showing off the little badge that said "Vice Executive." My shoulders sagged. Why didn't I notice that before?

"Great, first day on the job, and I insult my superior." Heero tried to hide a smile, and Wufei just chuckled. "I'll let this one go, but next time..." He shook a finger at me in mock-irritation. I gave him a mock-salute in return.

"I'll leave Heero to explain the details. Quatre is offering a room for you in his house, until you can find an apartment." Then Wufei left, leaving me and Heero, alone.

I never really appreciated Heero's body until this moment. When I had entered the room, he was sitting in the chair behind the left desk, typing away on the ever present laptop. When he looked up to greet me, those blue eyes had pinned me to the spot. And when he got up to walk towards Wufei and me, it was like the fluid movement of a cat. Me-ow.

Then he started talking. His smooth voice just kinda lulled me to sleep. He had me sit down on my side of the desks, and he stood behind me, with one hand on my shoulder and one hand on the computer mouse, clicking away to show me reports and all sorts of stuff. This wasn't exciting at all. Where was the action?

So I dozed off as he was explaining the details. But I snapped back to attention when he shook me. "Oi, Duo. This is serious. Why aren't you listening?" I looked at him through heavily lidded eyes. I was more tired than I thought. I needed to rest. "Um, Heero, maybe we can discuss this tomorrow... Shuttle lag, you know."

He just humphed, but let it go. The "Perfect Soldier" probably didn't suffer from shuttle lag. The lucky bum.

He offered to take me to Quatre's house. He said something about a room for us there. Did he say us? I dunno, maybe he was refering to a guest room that he may have used often or something. We walked out of the building, my head getting slightly woozy. "Uh..." I moaned in discomfort. I've never had shuttle lag this badly before.

Heero steadied me as I hopped onto his motorcycle. It was a really nice Harley Davidson. I didn't know they made these things anymore. He was watching me with those eyes of his, stoic yet somewhat caring. I never really understood any meaning behind his eyes. He gave me a helmet and told me to hold on tight. He revved up the engine and I grabbed onto him as we sped away from the parking lot. Heero had been working out; I could feel his tight abs as I clutched onto him for dear life. He was going a little too fast for my stomach, but I didn't complain. I watched as the cityscape gave way to the countryside.

"Here we are." Heero had carried my bags from the office, and he was still carrying them now. He's such a gentleman. I looked in awe at Quatre's mansion. It wasn't as huge as some mansions I've seen, but this was definitely a mansion. And in the middle of nowhere. That's seclusion for you.

I soon learned that Quatre had two houses in San Francisco, one of them was in the inner city on the other side of the bridge, but Quatre said it was incomplete.

When we walked in, I immediately fell in love with homeyness of it all. It had the tastefullness of a rich man's house, but still had that lived-in feel. Like there was a big family that lived here. Very cozy.

I walked towards the stairs, then I realized that I didn't know where my room was. I turned to Heero. He was already walking in my direction. "Your room's up here." I followed him wordlessly.

We ended up in a nice beige room. It was the same beige as the Preventer's building. For me, it was a soothing color. A short dresser that came up to my thigh was to the left of the door, against the wall. There was a door leading to a bathroom in the middle of the right wall. The head of the bed was against the left wall, and the foot of the bed was directly in the line of sight from the door. There was a large window that let in plenty of light on the far wall towards the left, so the sun cast it's warmth over the bed. There were a couple of chairs and a desk in the far right corner. And all the furniture was high quality maple. I could tell because of the light tan color and the fact that I had some cheap maple furniture on L2. [1]

I slumped over on the bed, my feet still on the floor. I watched as Heero put my bags down next to the dresser. I toed off my shoes and threw my entire body on the bed, so I was lying on my back. "Unfamiliar ceiling..." I mumbled. [2]

The ceiling was the same beige, but it had little white diamonds all over it. I never really noticed little things like this. Maybe I was more tired than I thought. I looked over and watched as Heero pulled off his jacket and placed it on top of the dresser. "Heero?" He didn't say anything as he walked over to me and sat on the edge of the bed. Heero has always been my best friend, other than Hilde. I don't know what drew me to him. Relena says he has a hidden charisma. I can agree with her on that one. That thought brought me a topic to discuss.

"How's Relena-san?"  
"Okay, I guess."  
"What do you mean 'I guess'?"  
"I wouldn't know."

I paused. For the longest time, I thought he and she would make a great couple. "Oh," was all I could say. I turned over to face the window.

I saw green, dark green, and blue. There was a green meadow outside, and a little farther off there was the edge of the forest. And the sky was as blue as Hilde's eyes.

"How are you and Hilde?"

I turned back to face Heero. He never asked me about my personal life. I just shrugged. "It's over. We're just friends now. It's okay, we both felt it was time. It wasn't really working out anyway." I watched as he just said 'ah' and looked back towards the door. I smiled and propped myself up on an elbow. I patted his back. "Don't worry, you'll find someone that's just right for you."

He mumbled something so softly that I couldn't hear what he said. I decided to dismiss it as just some self-doubt. He got up and pulled the covers over me. "Oyasumi, Duo," he said softly as he left. The door shut and I was quietly stunned for a moment. I looked over at the jacket he had left on the dresser. "Heero?"

He peeked his head back in. "Hm?"  
"You forgot your jacket."  
"I know. I'll come back for it." He shut the door again, and I could hear him walking away. I smiled as the warmth flowed through my body. I turned over and closed my eyes, my shuttle lag making me fall asleep quickly, but not before I had a thought.

Heero's a good-looking guy; why wouldn't he get a girlfriend?

I soon found out. Relena had somehow found out that I had come back to Earth, and called me the next morning. We met at a park nearby her hotel during lunch break. She was staying here for the week, because many of the Earth Sphere delegates were staying here for a convention. So of course, the vice foreign minister had to be here to keep the peace. I had nothing against Relena. A lot of people think she's a snobby, stuck-up bitch. I knew better. She's just misunderstood. Think about it: if your father was killed right before your eyes, then you found out that he really wasn't your father, and then you realize that you're the sole heir to an entire kingdom... Yeah, I'd freak out too. [3]

"Duo!" She waved me over to a bench in the middle of the park. She was wearing a spaghetti strap top and linen pants. She looked incredibly normal for a politician. Of course, I always forgot that she was the same age as me. Her hair was tied up in a pony tail, and reached the small of her back. My hair had reached the bottom of my butt by now. It made it hard to sit down without moving my hair first.

"Hey Relena-ojousan," I greeted, flashing her my trademark Maxwell smile. She giggled. Works every time. "So, how are things?"

"They're great. The world is at peace and no one has to fight anymore." I had to give her credit; she really is a pacifist.  
"I meant your social life; anyone special?" I wiggled my eyebrows for more emphasis.  
She just laughed. "Oh no, no one yet."  
"What about Heero?" Oh yeah, I was gonna get negative brownie points for this.

Relena shook her head. "No way, we're just friends. Like brother and sister. We tried dating but"

My eyes bugged out. "You what? You've already..." I let my sentence hang in the air. There was no need to say the rest.  
"Yup," Relena answered to my unstated question. "We've already decided that we needed someone who would understand us more than we did. It's alright, we still talk and we're still friends. How's it going with you and Hilde?"  
"Same as you and Heero," I replied. She just nodded, so I continued. "We cared a lot, but we didn't have the passion. It kinda got lost after awhile."  
"Yeah, same with Heero and I. I'm still kinda attracted to him, but it just wasn't working. There wasn't any chemistry."  
I just nodded. So she still found him attractive...

We talked about life, the universe and everything else we could think of. She told me that Heero didn't really feel ready to have a relationship with anyone yet, after she had tried to set him up on a couple dates. So she left him alone. I think she was trying to hide something from me about Heero's true desire. Or maybe I'm just paranoid.

After an hour or so, we parted ways. She had to go back to the hotel before anyone thought she had been kidnapped, and I had work to do at the Preventer's office. I walked away from the park, my spirit feeling a little bit lighter after the chit-chat with Relena.

I walked into my office, oh, sorry, our office. Heero was sitting at his desk, typing away on his laptop. I somehow managed to get the desktop. Maybe he liked his laptop better. Anyway, I sat down and looked over the files. Turns out this new gang also wants Relena out of the picture. Huh, what's new?

"You'd better look over that carefully," he said over my shoulder. I hadn't noticed that he had walked over to stand behind me. His lips were millimeters from my ear. When he spoke I could feel his breath. My heartbeat quickened and my arms quivered a little. Was it just me, or was it getting hot in here?

"Uh, yeah. Right." I tried to calm down, but it was getting too hot for me. I stripped off the jacket and threw over my chair. Heero had returned to his seat, typing away into oblivion. He was always really thorough in his reports. I slumped back into my soft cooshy chair and started reading the information file.

After two cups of coffee and only two ten-minute breaks, I was worn out. My head swirled with the knowledge of the gang from the past two years. I looked up at the clock hanging over the door. It was 7:05. I could have gone home an hour and five minutes ago! Heero was no where to be found. "Crap," I muttered as I shut off my computer, grabbed my jacket and left. Why the hell didn't Heero tell me it was time?

I hailed a taxi and went back to Quatre's house. This was going to be my last night here. Quatre had already reserved a nice little apartment for me near the Preventers' office. That way I could walk, until I could get myself a car.

I got out of the cab and walked into the front door. The first thing that assaulted my senses was the smell of lobster and toasted bread. I ran to the kitchen.

I peeked in, and I immediately got bapped in the nose. "Bad Duo! No peeking!" It was Quatre, who had an apron on. Trowa was near the stove, cutting up carrots. "Go upstairs," Trowa said in his usual calm voice. "Heero's waiting for you." I ran upstairs. Never knew I had that much energy in me.

My heart raced while I ran up to my room. I felt like I was meeting a lover, or something like that. I shook my head. I shouldn't feel like this! He's a guy, a fellow member of the male persuasion. There was nothing wrong with it, but... I don't know. I just don't know.

When I walked into my room, Heero was bent over something. I tried not to, but my eyes wandered over to his ass anyway. Sigh. Here's to trying to be chaste for at least a month. He stood back up, and gave me a look of amusement. "Here," was all he said before he stepped aside to reveal a large box, which was gift wrapped. He must have been doing the finishing touches when I had walked in. "Wow, thanks," I managed to say. He just shrugged and sat down on the bed. I walked over to the gift.

The bow was a normal bow, and looked abnormally small against the huge box. The box came up to about mid-thigh. Hell, it was taller than the bed! I looked at it suspiciously, and I heard Heero snort. I knew he was laughing at me, but I didn't really care. I opened up top of the box. Inside was lots and lots of packing peanuts. I dug through it, trying to find something. I reached down and down...

Heero's voice reached my ears through the styrofome. "Whoops."

It was the only warning I got before Heero 'nudged' me into the box. It was more like he lifted me up and shoved me in. But it helped. My hand brushed up against something in the far corner of the box. I picked it up, and a clink was heard. I felt the object in my hand, and I froze. They couldn't have...

I leaped out of the box, landing on Heero. I lay there for few moments, too shocked to do anything other than lay on top of that mass of muscle that was his stomach. It felt all warm and nice underneath my chest. I looked at him and held up my present. I dangled it in front of his face. "So, where is it?"

He just smiled a crooked half smile and pushed me off him. Too bad, I was starting to enjoy it. He walked out, and I followed him. I followed him all the way to Quatre's garage.

Inside was my REAL gift. A brand new Jeep. It was the kind of Jeep that didn't have a roof, or much of a door either. The kind of Jeep you take with you on wilderness trips across country. It was a dark grey, and the chrome letters on the driver's door took my breath away. "Shinigami's Ride." I don't know who came up with it, but it suited me just fine. I grabbed Heero in a tight bear hug. "Thanks man," I said. He hesitantly hugged me back, then pushed me away, like he was afraid of prolonged contact. "Hn. Tell that to the others. It's time for dinner." He turned around and left, leaving me with my Jeep, and the car keys sitting in my hand. I hopped up and down with joy for a few moments, then headed back to the house. I get hungry when I'm excited.

Dinner was very good; wild rice with soy sauce, creamed corn, roast pork and a pumpkin pie for desert. Trowa is a really good chef. Never knew he had it in him. Hell, I don't even know about his past, not a single bloody thing. I knew a little about the other guys, but Trowa's a mystery to me.

After dinner I went up to my room. Heero was staying the night with us, so it was like the old days, except Wufei wasn't here. But I know why he wasn't here. He was probably getting some nooky from Sally. [4]

I went to bed pretty early that night, about 10 PM. That's early for me folks. I'm a nighthawk; I usually stay up until 2 AM and wake up in time for lunch. I crawled into bed, tired for some reason I didn't know. My mind was just too fatigued to go on, and I collapsed into the sheets, falling asleep quickly.

I could have sworn that someone was touching me in the middle of the night. Maybe I was still inbetween dreams, but I felt a hand caress my cheek, and a familiar voice whisper "ai shiteru" in my ear. I didn't know what that meant; it was probably something in Japanese. I know a little Japanese, but not enough to talk to Heero fluently. Anyways, it was probably just a dream.

After that, I fell into a dream world, where my surroundings were mostly dark, lighted only by a green glow coming from strange looking plants. Demons of every shape and size danced around me, and in front of me was a huge bonfire. I looked behind me and saw the shadow of a hooded figure with a scythe. I moved an arm; the shadow moved the same arm. Then I finally looked at myself. I was the one with the hood and scythe!

Then my dream took a turn for the worse, or maybe it was for the better. I don't know. I was suddenly in a dark room. A candle was lighted and a figure was holding it. It wasn't until the person held the candle up to his face that I could see who it was. It was Heero. He stared at me with his blue eyes, and I felt my whole body grow hot with desire. I wanted to run my hands down his body, feel his hard flesh beneath my hands, I wanted him to squirm underneath me as I took him. I shook my head and backed away. I couldn't lust after him, I just couldn't! But he was so enticing...

He put the candle on a table, and abruptly the light grew stronger, casting a faint glow on the rest of the room. It was my bedroom in Quatre's house. Heero walked over to the bed and all of a sudden his clothes disappeared, revealing his gorgeous body in the candlelight. My fallen angel. He lifted a hand and beckoned me, and I went to him. I plastered kisses all over him, kneeling and kissing the soft skin of his stomach, then moving down to his hardened flesh. I licked it, and then he unexpectedly picked me up by the collar of my shirt. He looked into my eyes, and his eyes turned into blue swirling orbs, the color of the deep ocean. No white, no black, just pure blue. I panicked, and it was then when he showed his fangs. This was turning into a nightmare. He bit me hard, and the pain jolted through me, yet it did not wake me from my horrible dream. I felt my teeth changing, and I touched my canines; I had fangs too! I looked at his neck, and realized we were at the perfect angle; he could suck my blood while I sucked his. A union drenched in blood. I moved closer to his neck, breathing in his scent. I licked his pulse, then I sunk my fangs into that beautiful skin and...

I woke up screaming.

"Duo!"

Heero rushed into my room, wearing only his pajama pants. They were white with blue vertical stripes, and made of flannel. I could hear him as he padded into my room, and I felt him sit next to me. I couldn't see anything past the curtain of my hair. I always sleep with my hair down, and on a few occasions, I've nearly choked on it. This time, I used my hair as a blanket while I lay in a fetal position, hugging my knees to my chest.

"Duo..." I had never heard Heero's voice so soft and emotional. He gathered me into his arms, and held me. He stroked my hair and hummed softly. I could faintly remember him doing this to me before... It was the same feeling, the warm skin of his stomach, the soft sound of Heero's voice lulling me back to sleep.

I had always had nightmares about the Maxwell Church Massacre. For ten years the dream haunted me, an eternity of blood and violence following me whenever I closed my eyes. Even when I was on missions, and bunking with Heero when we were hiding in schools, I still had the nightmares. And each time, Heero would hold me and sing me softly to sleep. We were young, and I thought he was doing it to shut me up.

But now, as he held me the same way and murmured a soft song, I re-analyzed those times when we were gundam pilots. I looked back at the time when he didn't shoot me and instead rescued me. I smiled a peaceful grin and snuggled into that safety and comfort that I had forgotten about.

I woke up alone in my bed, but the faint scent of Heero's presence stayed with me the entire night. I got out of bed and washed up, but the whole time my thoughts kept straying towards Heero. I knew he had a heart; I just never knew he could show it.

I walked downstairs, stumbling a bit because it was still early for me. Yeah, 10 AM is early. Today was the day I was going to get my new apartment. That meant more freedom for me, but I still wanted to stay with the guys. I liked it like this, all of us being happy and together again.

I sat down at the dining room table and stared at my cup of coffee.  
"Not enough sugar?" Trowa asked. Heero was eating some French toast, Quatre had some pita bread, and Trowa was drinking some coffee.  
"Uh, no, it's fine. The coffee, I mean." I wasn't feeling all there today. Everything seemed kinda... muddled.

I drank my coffee and went back to my room to pack what little belongings that were left unpacked. Most of my stuff was in a box in my Jeep. I packed all the little things into my traveling bag and headed back downstairs.

Heero was waiting at the foot of the stairs. "Took you long enough," he said in his equable voice. He had lost all that softness that I had witnessed last night.  
"Heero? About last night..."  
"Forget it."  
"What?"  
"Just forget it." That's all he said before he headed out the door. "I'll lead you to your new apartment. I'll expect you at Preventer's HQ by noon."

"Oh. Okay." I followed him out. I didn't feel any resentment towards him. After all, he is supposed to be the perfect soldier: heartless, ruthless, emotionless.

I followed him all the way to my new apartment. Sometimes he would speed off on that damn motorcycle of his, but he always waited on the other side of the street, as if he was mocking me, leading me on, which he was. No one had bothered to tell me the address of my new home.

We ended up in a nice part of the city, on the edge of suburbia. Heero told me the number of my apartment, and gave me some papers. Then he sped off on his bike, never even looking back. I looked at the paper. "Apartment #212, Building 3." I grabbed my box and my bag and headed towards the main office.

A nice lady, probably the receptionist, pointed out my building. I climbed the stairs before I realized there was an elevator. I hit my head against the wall, and continued to my room. It was a nice cozy little place, big enough for two people, and small enough so that I wouldn't feel alone. There was already furniture, all pre-bought with the apartment. I had insisted on paying back Quatre for reserving the apartment for me, but he said to consider it a gift, and to save my money for paying the rent. I let that go, since he said the rent was about $990 a month. That's more than my old apartment for two months. I may be a good buisness man from the colonies, but I'm not THAT rich.

After I had settled in and put some of my things in their new places, I took a glance at the clock. 12:36 PM. Crap! I was late! I rushed out of my new home, hopped into my Jeep and drove towards Preventers HQ.

* * *

[1]: All the furniture is kinda based on mine... All my furniture is light tan solid maple... Floor Plan  
[2]: Heh heh, I got that from the second episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion.  
[3]: My friend was telling me that. It kinda gave me a new look on Relena.  
[4]: That sentence is dedicated to J. Wakabayashi (sp?) for all her cool Bond-type fics with Pargan trying to get some nooky.

Anyway, feel free to e-mail me your rants and raves, just don't cuss me out, okay?


	9. Chapter 9

This is Part 9 of this fic. It's a flashback, so this all happened before the beginning of the story. It has a bit of lemon (2), so be careful...  
Heero: Hn. 'Bit' my ass.  
Duo: Who?  
Heero: You. *flashes his ass, revealing Duo's bite marks*  
Duo: *blush*  
This is my first GW fic series, there is some violence, strong language and it has the yaoi pairings of Heero & Duo (Ack, they're equal partners, so I guess I would say 2x1/1x2, right?) and Quatre and Trowa (once again, I don't want to be yelled at for not saying the correct pair. Let's just say they are equal partners as well). So if you don't like male/male pairings, then don't read this, or pretend that Quatre and Duo are chicks. Okay?

**Eternity of Blood**

**Part 9**

**By: Top Ace**

I arrived at the Preventer's building in 5 minutes. I parked my car, rather crookedly I might add, and ran into the building, nearly running into Wufei. "You're late Maxwell!" he yelled as I ran into my office.

"You're late." Leave it to Heero to state the obvious. "No kidding," I sarcastically remarked as I plopped down in my chair. I booted up my computer and started researching any known whereabouts of the gang. "Hey Heero, check this out..." He was behind me in a flash, looking at the information that I had dug up. "I think this place might be a good front for funding a gang," I said. He just nodded. "I'll go tell Wufei about this. Good job, Duo." He left, leaving me with my jaw opened, surprised. I never knew he could compliment someone.

That night, we were scouting a small restaurant called "Eternal Feast." It was an all night buffet. Go figure. Heero and I snuck around the back, and ducked behind a trash can. I pulled out my hand held recorder, and recorded the conversation between two of the mobsters. They were planning for the assassination, when the Mayor would do his campaign speech tomorrow. We had all the information we needed, we just needed to get out of here.

"Ah... ACHOO!"

Shit. Why did I have to sneeze now? Either way, the two men pulled out some guns and walked towards us. Heero grabbed my hand and we ran for it.

"Why are we running?" I asked as we ran through the alleyways, trying to lose the two men. "Because," he said, "we need them alive to testify, and I don't have a gun."

I can't believe he didn't bring a gun. "Are you out of your mind?" I yelled. "Even I remember to bring a gun. Why didn't you?"

"I didn't think we would need it. If it wasn't for your sneezing"

All he did was let out a gasp as a bullet grazed his arm. I pulled Heero behind me out of instinct and shot back. I hit one of them in the arm, effectively disarming him. The other I accidently shot in the neck. He wouldn't be speaking for a while.

"You okay?" I asked Heero while I tore a bit of my shirt to tie up his wound. He didn't say anything, just staring at the opposite wall.

"You killed one of them," he muttered after I had finished tying up the make-shift bandage. "We were supposed to get a recording and leave them alive. We failed."  
"Dammit Heero, I shot them in self-defense. What did you want me to do, let them shoot me?"  
"You didn't have to pull me behind you."  
"And you didn't have to bring me."

That got him for a moment. He had literally dragged me from the office on this mission. Not that I didn't want to go, but I just wanted to bring a few provisions, such as my gun. He was impatient, and pulled me out before I could get an extra clip.

"Fine. Whatever. Let's go," he said as he left the scene. I looked back at the two thugs, then went after Heero.

Apparently, Heero was okay. Just a small abrasion, no problem for him. He could set his own broken leg; a little cut wasn't going to disable him. I went home after this fiasco, and fell onto my bed. I wanted to sleep and forget about today. Just wanted to forget...

But I couldn't. At around midnight I got up. I just couldn't fall asleep. I slipped a coat on and went outside to take a walk.

It was a nice night, the air was fresh and the night was clear for once, not all foggy like it usually is at this time of year. I went to the bridge and looked over the edge. The dark waters reflected the city lights. I stood there for a few moments, then I started heading back.

That was when my problems started. I heard someone following me. He was trying to make his steps in sync with mine, but I could tell his footfalls apart from my own. I turned around, and he was gone. There was no way someone could disappear that quickly with no trace. I turned back around and there he was.

A man about my height, with leather pants and a black jacket. No shirt, just a bare chest. He must have been cold, because... well, you know. He slithered towards me. I have no other way of describing the way that he moved except for snake-like. I stood my ground as he stared at me. "Look into my eyes," he whispered. I looked at him. For a moment, I felt a pull, like he was trying to pull me into a hole. I blinked, and shook my head. Then I looked back at him. They were just eyes.

"Damn you," he said. I don't know why. What did he expect? Then he flashed his fangs at me. I kid you not, he had real live fangs, and he hissed at me. He leaped at me, his hands extended. He tumbled onto me, and that jarred my necklace out from underneath my shirt.

"AAAAHH!" he screeched as he covered his eyes with his hands. He got off of me and pulled away. My cross was glowing bluish white, and it was hurting me a bit too. The only thing I could think of right now was that the stranger was a vampire, and that I should get the hell out of there. So I did. I ran like a dog with his tail between his legs.

I didn't stop running until I reached my apartment and locked the doors. ~_Jesus, what the hell was that? Christ on a bike,  
I hope that never happens again..._~

"Need help?"

I looked over at the window. Sitting on the windowsill was a young woman with dark wavy hair that reached her shoulders. When she looked at me, I could see her dark eyes and pale skin, and when she got up, I noticed that she was a bit shorter than me, about 5' 3". "My name's Anita," she said, "And you're an animator."

I'd just about had enough of all this weird crap happening to me.

"First of all, how the hell did you get into my apartment, and what the hell is an animator?"

She smiled and gave me a quick rundown. Turns out that I can raise people from the dead as zombies. Cool. She also said that as an animator, I had various immunities to vampires. As if vampires existed. Wait a minute...

"Are you sure this isn't one big hoax?" I asked. She shook her head. "It's all real pal, believe it. Do you have a cross?" I pulled out the golden cross that hung on a silver chain around my neck.

"Do you have faith in what it stands for?"  
"Why does that matter?"  
"Because if you don't have faith, you won't be able to repel vampires. You need to have some kind of holy belief in order to make your cross work against vamps."  
"It was glowing earlier tonight, pretty brightly too."

"Good," she said, "that means you have faith. Wear that at all times. It's for your own good." She paused for a moment, her face looking as if she was trying to remember something. Then she asked me, "Oh yeah, and do you have a gun?" I shook my head. "Crap. I know a guy who can get you some guns and silver ammo. I'll bring'em tomorrow. Until then you stay safe, and don't wander around at night, alright?" I nodded my head. She let herself out, and I locked the doors. I threw off my jacket and crawled under the covers. I had faith?

Didn't matter, because the nightmares returned with a vengeance.

Thank God for Saturday. I slept in until noon, then dragged myself out to eat a sandwich. I was watching some lame movie when someone knocked on my door. "Who is it?" I yelled over the sound of someone getting their head bashed in. "Open the door you baka," Heero said. I knew it was him because he always called me baka. Never figured out what that meant, since the others didn't know what it meant and Heero wouldn't tell me. I have to get myself a Japanese dictionary one of these days.

I got up and let him in. He was wearing a jean jacket, blue jeans and his green tank top. "Quatre and guys want to go to the park. Do you want to come?" I nearly fell over. Heero was the last person I expected to ask me if I wanted to go the park. "Sure!" I said happily as I grabbed a pair of pants. It suddenly occured to me that I only had on a shirt and boxers when Heero opened the door. I suddenly felt hot from embarrassment. I shook it away and pulled on the pants. Then I went with Heero to the park.

We pulled up near a little area in the middle of the the park. Heero had driven his motorcycle through the walkways. What a guy, no respect for pedestrians. We were near the fountain in the park. It was a big fountain, and at night the neon lights would glow, making the water a rainbow of colors. But in the daylight, it looked like a nice place to play. In fact, some little kids were playing in the fountain as Quatre brought out the picnic basket.

"It's been awhile since we got together like this," Quatre said. He and Trowa set up the plates and the food. Wufei was with us as well, lying on his back in the grass, his eyes closed. I guess he hadn't gotten much sleep. I can imagine why. Heh heh.

Heero was sitting on the edge of the fountain. He was facing away from us, his feet in the water. I could tell becaus his shoes were on the ground. I snuck up behind him as quietly as I could. I didn't think he wouldn't notice me, so I leaped up to scare him.

He freaked and fell into the water. I guess I was more quiet than I thought. He flailed around a bit, making me laugh. It was a funny sight, a normally serious guy waving his arms wildly in the water. He glared at me and stood up. We were eye to eye, and I licked the tip of his nose. "Done playing in the water?" I teased. He smirked. I never even saw it coming when he grabbed my arms and pulled me into the water with him.

"GAH!" I gasped for air, my hair all wet. It had just finished drying, and now it was wet again. "Dammit! Do you know how long it takes for my hair to dry?" I yelled. Heero just looked at me with a quizzical expression on his face. I gave up. It was useless to be angry at him when he was looking so cute. I sighed. "Forget it," I muttered.

"Lunch time!" Quatre announced, even though it was two in the afternoon. Heero pulled me out of the water, and we went to eat Trowa's wonderful food.

In the middle of winter, you wouldn't expect the sun to be shining. But it was. California has the strangest weather. However, the wind was blowling like a bitch, and Heero and I were huddled together for warmth after five minutes. "You two better go home, you'll catch a cold," Quatre said. He was always worried about us, kinda like an older brother. Even though he was the youngest of all of us, he still acted like the more mature one. In fact, he was still 19, while the rest of us were 20. His birthday was in a couple of days.

Which reminds me, I still need to get a gift for him. But what can I get the richest boy in the colonies?

Heero drove me to my apartment, where he and I changed clothing. I had to lend him a dress shirt and jeans while we threw our wet clothes in the dryer. We were soaking wet and as cold as a popsicle. I huddled in my bed, the blanket curled around me, chattering my teeth. I suddenly felt a warmth behind me. "Heero?" He answered by putting his arms around me. "Let me in the covers. We'll get pneumonia if we don't get warm." I wrapped the blanket around both of us, and we held each other until I fell asleep. He must have fallen asleep too, because when I woke up, he was still beside me.

"Oi... Heero..." I nudged him awake. He sat bolt upright and looked at me. "What?" he asked.  
"Nothing," I said. "Just wanted to tell you that it's 6PM. We've been sleeping for three hours."

"Hn." He got out of bed and took his clothes out of the dryer. He threw my clothes onto the foot of the bed. "Ja ne," he said before he let himself out. I knew what that meant. It meant "see ya." I think. God, I need to learn more Japanese.

I fixed myself some dinner and watched some TV. I actually fell asleep watching the shopping channel, dreaming about buying a special set of "custom made" dolls. I woke up early in the morning, the witching hour. No, not midnight. 3 AM is the new witching hour. I never slept regularly anymore, ever since I had become a gundam pilot. I don't even remember sleeping regularly before that. I've never had a regular night of sleep. Damnation.

I walked outside to the park. I had forgotten all about Anita's warning, and wandered around, not tired enough to go back to bed. I sat on a bench, starring up into the night sky. The clouds covered everything, leaving only the moon and Venus. And even they weren't shining as much as they should have been. It was a dark night.

"What did I tell you about wandering around at night?"

Anita appeared in the pool of light from the street lamp, the very image of the vampire hunter. Black jeans, black shirt and a black trench coat. Even black Nikes. Women always have good taste in matching clothes. Well, most of them, anyway.

"Why should you care?" I regretted saying that the minute it had left my mouth. I could see years of pain from behind her eyes. "I've seen many friends come and go. I'm so jaded now that I can't even grieve the death of a co-worker. I want to preserve as much humanity as I can. That's why." I just nodded. I started to walk home when she suddenly pointed her gun at me. "Hey, I'm going home now, there's no need to"

*BANG!*

A body flopped down behind me. It started moving the minute I looked, and I ran to stand next to Anita. She handed me a small gun. "You know how to use a gun?" I was tempted to laugh, but I didn't. I just said yes and we started running.

We stopped running when a couple of vamps stood in front of us. "Give us the boy, Executioner. We have no quarrel with you."

"Ha. You should no that I don't leave any of my fellow humans behind." She shot at them, hitting one square in the heart. I shot at the other one, landing a shot in the chest, but more towards the lung. My aim had gotten worse since I stopped being a pilot. "Run," Anita commanded, and I ran. I ran towards my apartment.

Anita was behind me, shooting at the vamps from behind. I reached the road across from my apartment. I turned around. "What are you doing?" she yelled. "I can't bring them to my apartment, I'll risk innocent lives." I pulled out my cross. The vampires screamed and shielded their eyes. Anita pulled her cross out too, and we started shooting at them. Then she pulled a huge knife from a sheath hidden in her jacket. She lopped off their heads. They lay in a pool of dark red blood, their heads off to one side.

"Give me my gun back," Anita said. I handed it back to her. "I'll have some weapons like mine for you tomorrow. Just be home tomorrow night, alright?" I nodded and headed back to my apartment. I couldn't sleep peacefully for the rest of the night. Headless bodies just kept appearing in my dreams.

Sunday was usually a day of rest for me. But this Sunday, I went to church. I hadn't stepped inside a church since my childhood days on L2. I missed Father Maxwell and Sister Helen. I missed them a lot. It was time I finally told them.

I waited until Mass was over before I entered the church. I kneeled down and clasped my hands together. "I miss you so much. Sister Helen, Father Maxwell... I haven't cut my hair, see? It's still in a braid too." I was silent for a few minutes before I continued. "Father Maxwell, please don't be mad at me. I think... I think I like another man. I hope you aren't too mad at me..." The candles flickered, but all was silence. "I'm sorry." I prayed silently for a few moments more before I got up. I turned to leave, but I looked at the altar one last time. The cross that had meant nothing to me before was now was a sign of hope. Maybe there was a god, one who gave life instead of taking it. [1]

After I left the church, I stopped by Howard's office/house. He was practically running the buisness from his place on the beach near the marina. The place was the same as when I had first come here with Deathscythe. The only thing that had changed was the equipment. It was brand new, probably bought with the money we made. But everything else was in the same spot, even my old room was left untouched.

"Hey Duo, how've ya been?"  
"Hey Howard. So, what did you need me for?"  
"We've got a special project. We need someone to help fix some of our new machinery. It just came in from the colonies, but we have no idea how to fix it, and the guy who sent it to us didn't give us an instruction manuel. Think you can handle it?"  
"Are you kidding? Lemme see it!"

He showed me to the mysterious mechanism. It was about the size of a car engine and had all sorts of gadgets and what not poking out of it. "I've never seen anything like it," I mumbled as I bent down to poke at it. I looked back up at Howard. "Maybe I should call Hilde and ask her. She knows a lot of this stuff."  
"That's fine. In fact, you can call her right now. We got a new video-phone."

I called up Hilde and she said it was an engine for a space mine. She sent me the plans for it and I fixed it up in no time, with the help of Howard, of course. After I finished the job, I returned to my apartment.

I spent the rest of the day unpacking and cleaning up. Then I ate dinner and played some video games. I still had my old video game system from three years ago. I had bought it when it was on sale, and I still had a few games that I loved to play. Mostly action games, but I had one game that was different. "Death's Story," it was called. I loved that game. It was about a boy working for Satan, but in the end he turned against him. I never finished the game because my old file had gotten erased before I had a chance to beat Satan, and I never bothered starting a new one. Tonight, I decided to start over.

I was so engrossed in the game that I didn't notice Anita standing behind me until she coughed. I paused the game and looked up. "How did you get in here? I always lock my door." She smiled, a smile that meant nothing and anything, and held up a box. "A friend of mine taught me how to break into other people's apartments. He did it all the time to me." I just laughed, a short sound, and took the box. I brought it to a table and opened it. Inside was a Hi-Power Browning and a Firestar. Two guns that I had used before. There were also ten clips inside for EACH gun.

"Those are silver bullets. Use them only if you need them, because they're expensive."

Jesus, I was in some major debt. "How much do I owe you?" I asked.

"Nothing. Consider them a gift."  
"Uh... okay." As usual, I was cautious of strangers bearing gifts. For some reason this seemed fitting, but I was still suspicious.  
"Don't worry. My friend gave them to me for free when I told him about you. He said that a new kid like yourself would need all the protection he could get."  
"I can take care of myself."  
"Right," she said with a sarcastic tone. "And you sure did, walking out in the middle of the night without a gun."  
"So sue me. It's hard to get used to all this supernatural crap."  
"It's no crap, and you'd better get used to it fast. Or else you'll be dead. These vampires are cannon fodder compared to how strong the old ones can be."

She turned to leave, but I asked her a question. "If these vampires are as powerful as you say they are, why didn't you get me a shotgun?" She smiled and said, "You won't need one... yet."

She left, leaving me with two brand new guns and my game still on pause.

I saved my game and went to bed. I had to be in the office by 9 AM, and I had four hours to sleep. I crawled into my bed and had dreams filled with beating the snot out of Satan.

And when I woke up, it was 9:10 AM. "Shimatta!" I screamed as I rushed out of bed and got ready for work. Heero had taught me that word. I used it a lot.

I got to work half an hour late, and Wufei gave me an earful. I didn't know he could be so calm yet be so pissed. I left his office feeling incredibly guilty for sleeping in. Wufei's speeches can do that to you. I walked into my office to hear the familiar clacking of keys as Heero typed his report. There was a bandage on his arm, and he was wearing blue jeans and that green tank top. Did he have a whole closet of those?

"They caught the gang, you know."  
"Really?" I said, surprised. I didn't think it would happen so quickly.  
"Yeah. It would have gone smoother if SOMEONE could have been there to confess." He was mentioning the guy I shot in the throat. I can't believe he was still miffed about that.  
"So sue me."

I spent the rest of the day ogling Heero. I couldn't help it; but work was so boring, and there wasn't anything else I could do. My computer screen was conveniently in front of me, and I could act like I was typing, but still see Heero out of the corner of my eye. Let's face it: I've got an infatuation with that guy. I started to daydream, my eyes glossing over as I thought about the past...

"I've already registered in a nearby school under your name."  
"Oh. But Heero"  
"No buts. You're wounded. I'll complete the mission. Stay here and try not to get caught."

"Fine." Stubborn bastard. But he did save my life; for that I'm grateful. I just needed to keep a low profile and I would be safe. But why didn't he just shoot me? Wouldn't it be easier? I lay back on the bed and looked out the window. The artificial specks of light that were supposed to represent stars shone brightly in the darkness. Nothing like what I saw on Earth. It was so much more real down there.

I felt a body lie next to me. "Heero?"  
"Hn. There's only one bed. And sleeping on the floor isn't efficient for a good night's rest. Just get used to it."

He said it so mechanically, that I didn't question him. I didn't think there would be an ulterior motive behind his sleeping with me in the same bed. I just fell asleep, more soundly than I ever had in my entire life.

I shook myself out of my reverie. I was staring blankly at my monitor when a thought occured to me. Maybe he liked me from the very beginning. Maybe he had developed a softness for me. I looked over at him, and he looked up at me with a stern expression.

"Get to work, Duo"

Maybe not.

Damn my imagination. As I drove home, I kept getting stupid mental images in my mind, mostly containing Heero's ass. Dammit. I couldn't get my mind off that nice piece of posterior that was owned by a particular sexy pilot

Bad Duo. Stop thinking. Just stop.

Oh hell. I let the thoughts roam through my dark head, because it was just easier to let the mind go instead of trying to block the flow. I parked my car and headed up the stairs, as quickly as I could because my pants were getting rather tight. Gee, I wonder why?

I went into my apartment, locked the doors, and threw off my jacket as I ran into my room and closed the door. I toed off my shoes and took off my shirt. My pants were getting really tight now. What the hell was happening?

That was a dumb question. I hadn't had sex in what, two months? Hilde had not been feeling well for a while, and after that she just "wasn't in the mood." So now, here I was, horny little me, crawling into my bed, moaning Heero's name. God, I wanted him so badly that it hurt.

I peeled off my jeans and lay on my back, staring up at the ceiling. I was practically naked now, my clothes in a pile on the floor. I kicked off my boxers and started touching myself. It was nothing compared to being inside someone, but what could I do? Unless that woman came back

No... I'm not THAT horny as to fuck any moving thing in sight. I just wanted to be inside Heero's tight butt, his muscles squeezing around me as I pumped myself into him. Mmm... It would be so delicious...

I tickled my balls, letting myself feel the pleasure course through my body. I loved that feeling, right before coming. You know, that feeling of intense pleasure that makes your mind go crazy and all logical thought is just thrown to the sky while all you can concentrate on is that one point, that one point where all the pleasure is stemming from. God, I love that feeling.

I grasped my dick and pumped it harder, squeezing myself so I could imagine being inside of Heero. I sucked on my fingers, wetting them, then stuck them into my ass, stretching myself. Now I was imagining Heero on top of me, his eyes hazed with passion as he took me, moaning my name as he came. I screamed out my own passion as I came in a blinking flash, yes, blinking because only a real good fuck can cause a blinding torrent of pleasure.

I slowly fell asleep as day gave way to night. I forgot to eat, but right now, I didn't care.

* * *

[1]: I know NOTHING about Catholicism. Just stating that now.

Anyway, feel free to e-mail me your rants and raves, just don't cuss me out, okay?


	10. Chapter 10

This is Part 10 of this fic. I am now continuing with the original timeline, before the flash back started. Er... I realize that Gabriel in my fic seems a lot like Gabriel in the Anita Blake books... erg... I didn't mean to... ^^;;  
~_blah_~ = thoughts, "blah" = talk  
This is my first GW fic series, there is some violence, strong language and it has the yaoi pairings of Heero & Duo (Ack, they're equal partners, so I guess I would say 2x1/1x2, right?) and Quatre and Trowa (once again, I don't want to be yelled at for not saying the correct pair. Let's just say they are equal partners as well). So if you don't like male/male pairings, then don't read this, or pretend that Quatre and Duo are chicks. Okay? And there's some semi-rape in this...

**Eternity of Blood**

**Part 10**

**By: Top Ace**

I woke up in my apartment. My head was in someone's warm lap, and I immediately sensed that it was Heero. He was softly humming and brushing my hair gently with his fingers. "Heero?" I asked in a dry voice, like when you first speak in the morning and your voice is all raspy. I found myself saying his name like that a lot lately.

"Relax. I'm here," he soothed, his arms craddling me like I was a precious treasure. I did as he said, and I soon fell asleep again, his soft tenor voice following me to a blissful rest.

It was dark. That wasn't a surprise. What was a surprise was that there were candles in the distance. I walked over to them, and saw that they were in a birthday cake. I read the words on the cake. 'Happy 6th Birthday Duo!' Suddenly, the lights turned on and I was in a room with Heero and the guys in front of me. They were all little kids, and I soon realized that I was shorter and my voice was higher as well. A woman moved in the corner of my eye and I looked at her. Her red hair was shocking, and she seemed familiar. She smiled happily at me. "Happy birthday, my son. I brought all your friends here for a surprise party!" The guys then tackled me, and we were all glomped together in a huge group hug. It felt so nice... I had a family, and friends...

Wait a minute.

I was a street orphan when I was six. I never had any cake, or a party for that matter. I didn't know the guys back then. Something about this dream was off. I looked at the woman. The red hair.

"Murdida!"

She smiled, and suddenly my surroundings changed into the upstairs room in Bloody Delights. The place was crawling with vamps and vampire junkies, but no one noticed me or her. "Duo, please, I can take you away from all of this. Your mother cares about you." I shook my head as two vampire women came up to me and pushed their bodies against mine. "No! I don't want this! Get out of my head Murdida!" She bared her fangs in an evil grin and laughed a braying laugh like a donkey. Then she floated away and out the window, leaving me with the vampires. I was being surrounded on all sides, their numbers growing with each passing moment. Their fangs were bared, and some licked their lips with anticipation. One of them started to leap forward. I screamed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Heero was still there, holding me against his chest. I could hear his heart beat as I slowly re-learned how to breathe. He wiped a moist towel against my brow, and crooned softly to calm my nerves. My whole body was trembling, cold and sweaty. "Hee... Hee-chan..." I never called him Hee-chan unless I felt really emotional, and he knew that. Now was one of those times.

"Shh... it's okay, Ma... Duo." He had nearly called me master again. I guess I really did prove myself worthy of being his master, but at the cost of using up the majority of my energy, leaving me weak and vulnerable to physical and mental attacks. I sat up and looked out the window, shielding my eyes from the glare of the light. It was sunset. "How long have I been sleeping?"

"Most of the day."  
"Oh... I'm starved."

Heero pulled me up to face him. He kissed me gently, then offered me his neck. "My blood is yours, lover." I was shocked for a few moments. First, he was offering me his blood. Second, he just called me lover. I think that merited me a few minutes of shock. "Actually, I was thinking more of solid food..."

Heero's eyes went downcast. Dammit. I bet he feels rejected. I would have drunk his blood, but I didn't know how to summon the fangs. Maybe if I just wished hard enough. I closed my eyes and kissed the pulse at the base of his neck. My lips lingered there, and I felt a sudden lust for blood. The fangs came suddenly, and I went with my emotions. I sunk my fangs into his neck, right at the pulse. I let the warm liquid flow into my mouth, my body trembling with desire. It was almost as good as sex. Almost.

After I had drank my fill, I licked the wound and it started healing almost immediately. I pulled back, my fangs disappearing as I took a deep breath to get my bearings straight. I looked at Heero's pale complexion. "Heero, are you okay?" He nodded, but he was bit out of breath. "That felt good," he said. I nodded my agreement, then suddenly realized that I wasn't starving anymore. "Hey, I'm not that hungry anymore. But I still kinda want a burger." Heero smirked, and we went to Burger King for some fast food.

He didn't eat anything, of course. He doesn't need to; he's dead.

The next day, we returned to work. It was still amazing to know that we still did our jobs well, considering that we practically stay up all night hunting vampires. Of course, no one else knows about vampires besides the five of us ex-pilots, Sally and Anita. And Hilde, but she was one of them, so that didn't really count.

Hold on.

Heero has been to Relena's house a few times during the course of these events... Maybe she knows something. I doubted it, because she was the vice foreign minister; she didn't have time to chase vampires, or hunt lycanthropes. But for some reason, I felt it wise to talk to her.

So during my one hour lunch break (thank God for benefits for 'veterens'), I drove over to Relena's house. I should say mansion, but it doesn't have the same regality that the word 'mansion' brings. Her house just seemed like, well, a house. I parked my jeep and rung the door bell.

"May I help you?" It was Pargan, Relena's faithful servant.

"Hi! I'm Duo Maxwell, a friend from the war. Can I speak to Relena-ojousan?"

Relena's voice came from behind him. "Pargan, who was Oh! Duo! Welcome, come on in."

Pargan opened the door and I walked in. It was a nice house, with paintings of the woods and rivers all over the place. I guess it made up for living in the city with its concrete towers and such. "Oi, Relena-san, can I speak to ya, uh..." I looked over at Pargan. "Privately?" She looked over at Pargan, and he left like a good little servant. [1]

Is it obvious I don't think much of servants?

We walked to the living room, sat down across from each other and she offered me tea. I declined, watching her pour some for herself. Sometimes I forget that she's related to Zechs and not Quatre.

"So, is this about Heero?"  
"Yeah. How did you know?"  
"Why else would you be here?"  
"Oh." I stared down at the glass table. It had all sorts of intricate designs. No, wait, those were coffee stains. "Drink a lot of coffee lately?"

She looked down and the table, and laughed softly. "Yeah, late nights trying to keep the peace. The maids have practically given up trying to clean that table. So now I just put the cup in a different spot, and that's what made this weird pattern," she said while pointing at a spiral design. It looked like one of those spirograph designs.

"Cool," I said blandly. She smiled and took my hand. The second she touched me, I felt warmth and love flowing through me, like a mother's sweet embrace. I flinched, and she let go of me. "What the hell was that?" I asked all too harshly.

"I am an empath. And you are a necromancer. I can feel the death in you, no offense..."

I shrugged. "None taken. But... how long? And how much do you know?"

She smiled and said, "I've known that I had powers ever since after I was kidnapped by Mariemaia. She told me that when I had slapped her, she felt something. She said that I had changed her outlook on life. Then while I was on one of the colonies, one of the colony delegates taught me a couple of things with my power. I stayed with him for a couple of years, then I came back to Earth. So I can feel other's emotions... It's kinda interesting."

I wondered idly if she could feel my emotions. Yeah, she probably could. If she had been training for two years, then she must know something. "Do you have some free time?"

"Why do you ask?"  
"Quatre... Quatre has the same powers as you, I think. Maybe you could help him."

She quietly pondered this for a few moments, sipping her tea. "I think... I think it'd be better if he goes to same man I went to for training."  
"We don't have time for that. You know what's going on in the city, don't you?"  
"No, what is it?"  
"Heero hasn't told you?"  
"Well, he says you're part vampire and some other vampires are threatening you, but what does that have to with not having time to send Quatre to the colonies? You have time to see me, so why not help him?"  
"I can't leave Quatre alone. The vamps might use Quatre as bait for me, and I don't want that. If he's far away, I can't help him if a vampire attacks him in the colonies. I don't know if there are any vamps in the colonies, and I don't wanna take that risk."  
"Trowa could go with him."

I had nearly forgotten about that. Trowa was a were-lion. He could take on a vamp and not get too hurt. "Oh yeah... Hey, how do you know?"  
"Heero told me."  
"And he didn't tell you about Quatre?"  
"Nope. Must have skipped his mind."

Heero's pretty thorough. This was starting to sound suspicious.

"I know that sounds suspicious."  
I looked at her blankly for a few moments. Is suspicion an emotion?

"But Heero hasn't been himself lately. You've noticed right?"  
I nodded.  
"I think I know why."  
"Go on."  
"I think... I think he only has half his soul."

First it was shock. Then, "What?"  
"I mean, when you resurrected him, you didn't do it fully. After all, you probably had no idea what you were doing, right?"  
I nodded.  
"So... I think that maybe half of his soul escaped, so he's not really being himself. He's... uh... kinda like... half of a Heero."

I just sat in the silence, trying to sort out what she had said. Thankfully, she changed the subject.

"You know, I think I have some free time. I could teach Quatre how to control a bit of his powers, but to really understand, he has to go talk to the delegate of the L4 colony."

Huh, a delegate from his own colony. Go figure. "Alright, I'll ask him first. He might be a little uncomfortable about practicing his powers without one of the guys."  
"No problem. Trowa could always come and watch."

I just nodded. "I'll let myself out now. My lunch break is almost over."  
"Bye Duo."  
"Bye Relena."

I left her house and didn't look back. I trusted Relena, just not with my life, or anyone else's. It wasn't that she was a backstabber, she just hasn't experienced the amount of bloodshed and gore that I've suffered. She may know how to use a gun, but can she kill?

No. And I intend on keeping her away from the butchery and carnage that is my life. Ever since Mrs. Dorlian died two years ago, she's been an orphan. Maybe not in the true sense of the word, but let's face it: she never knew her real parents, and her foster parents died before she reached 20. Life's not fair sometimes.

The only person taking care of her now is Pargan, because Zechs and Noin are on Mars terraforming. If only Zechs knew... Maybe he'd come back to his sister.

But none of this is my buisness. I never had a real family. And besides, I have more important things to worry about. Like Hilde.

I returned to work, and talked to Quatre. "Oi, Quatre!"  
"What is it?"  
I lowered my voice. "Um, Relena-san knows how to use the same powers that you have. She's offered to teach you how to use them a bit, if you want."

His eyes brightened at the prospect. "Really? I'll be glad to take the offer. When?"  
"Probably tomorrow. Alright, I'll call her and tell her when."  
"Thanks Duo."  
"Don't thank me, thank her for teachin' ya."

And here I was worried that Quatre wouldn't go. I went to my office before he could say anything else. I did all my paperwork and left early. No one questioned me.

Heero followed me out. "Duo."  
"What?"  
He looked at me for a few moments. "Nothing, never mind," he said.

That was weird. He usually didn't say anything unless he had to, and doesn't forget much either. He has the memory of an elephant. He hopped onto his motorcycle and sped off, while I got into my jeep and drove after him.

Maybe Relena was right. Maybe he only had half his soul.

It was finally time to move out of my small apartment (well, small by Quatre's standards) and to move into our house. It was a small house on the edge of the city, out in the middle of nowhere so no one would get hurt.

Heero and I had been driving back and forth carrying boxes of my stuff. Which wasn't very much, not including the furniture. Heero had rented a U-Haul truck, and he moved most of the heavy stuff. He could lift it all by himself, but I helped him out so we wouldn't arouse suspicion from the neighbors. If a guy carried a three-hundred pound sofa out the door by himself, wouldn't you be suspicious?

My jeep held a couple of boxes filled with my clothes and other various knick-knacks that I've collected over the years. I've become such a packrat over the past few years; it surprises even me. When I was a gundam pilot, all my belongings could fit into one bag. Now it takes a U-haul truck and a couple of boxes.

I drove down the road listening to an old song. "Turn me on take me for a hard ride, Burn me out leave me on the otherside..." [2]

Another car was following me, and it looked rather menacing in the rear view mirror. In fact, it looked familiar. Haven't I seen a jeep like that before?

I hit the accelerator and drove away. As I predicted, they followed me. They drove towards me, which was bad since we were driving on a cliff and I was on the outside. Looks like I had to force myself inwards. I drove towards them, our jeeps grinding together. The sparks were flying as I tried to keep control of my car and pull out my gun at the same time. I pulled out the firestar and aimed it at the driver. There was only one person in the car, the driver. He looked up at me and grinned, then I felt my car lurch forward. Why the hell didn't someone tell me they had backup?

I looked behind me, which probably wasn't smart. The driver of the Cadillac behind me just waved, and I looked forward again. My jeep hit a tree and I flew out of the jeep. No matter what the seat belt warning says, wearing it will not protect you from everything. And maybe because I didn't bother to replace the faulty buckle for it...

I flew off out of my car and into a tree. It was the last thing I saw before I plunged into the darkness.

"Shit..." That's what I felt like. Animal droppings. My vision was blurry, and the first thing I registered was my sense of touch. I was on something soft. I was also tied up, no, handcuffed. I was bound spread eagle, one leg to each bed post. I opened one eye, then the other. I didn't like what I saw.

"You shouldn't be saying such naughty things... I'll have to punish you..."

It was Gabriel. Stupid fucking Gabriel. His black hair fell around his face, framing it. His eyes were liquid brown and his teeth were fang-like. I heard that happens when a shape-shifter stayed in animal form for too long. I think Gabriel was into beastiality, and he was the beast. Wait... didn't I say he was a vampire?

"What are you?" I asked.  
"You really wanna know?" he replied, a grin on his face.  
"Yes."  
"I'm a were-leopard."

Oh. That explained a couple of things. "Where the hell am I?"  
"You're in the royal suite of Bloody Delights. Nice and comfy, isn't it?"

He slithered up to me, covering my body with his lithe muscular frame. He was larger than me, and I felt like an underdeveloped pre-teen next to him. His muscles weren't too big, but they were there. He was grinding his hips into mine, making my body quiver.

"Stop that," I said, more calmly than I felt. Good for me. He just lifted himself and kneeled between my bound legs.

"Oh, this is only the beginning little one. My master has much planned for you."

Master? Were-leopards don't have masters, do they? Hell, I didn't know much about how packs worked, all I knew was that the cat-shapeshifters had pride leaders. But masters? Maybe it was a vampire.

"And hopefully," he continued, "he'll let me play with you when he's done. Or, what's left of you." He sniggered, very unattractive. But the sound seeped through my body like he was pouring hot wax over me. I groaned, because of the burning sensation, and because he had left me half-erect. I didn't like the fact that my body was betraying me.

"Oh, poor baby. Let me take care of that..." Gabriel grabbed my balls, all but ripping them off. I screamed in pain. It hurts like hell when someone grabs you right there. He just laughed, and started massaging them gentle, like a couple of those Chinese medicine balls. I moaned against my will.

"Like that, huh? How about this?" He unzipped my pants and took my erection into his other hand, and started jacking me off. I bit my lip to keep me from making any sounds. "You know you like it," he said in a stage whisper, gripping me harder. I cried out, but I bit my lip trying to keep my mouth shut. I could taste the blood in my mouth.

Gabriel leaned over me, and licked my lips. "Blood, your blood is filled with power..." He continued to lap at the wound on my lip, then moved to my cheek and licked me. I felt a cut there, and it was oozing blood. He sucked on it, making me squirm. That stung like a bitch. "So good," he said, his voice husky and filled with lust. I guess blood is like sex to shape-shifters as well as vampires.

"Get off of him!"

Gabriel turned towards the voice. His grip on my cock was a bit too hard for my liking, and I squeaked. It wasn't very manly of me. The voice spoke in a commanding voice, and I could feel Gabriel tremble.

"Get off now, Gabriel."

"Yes master." He got off me, leaving me with my dick sticking out of my pants, oozing with my seed. I felt kinda... embarrassed.

"No need to feel embarrassed, I'd like to think of it as an invitation."

He was a vampire. A stupid mind-reading vampire. He reached out towards Gabriel. "You have gone too far, little one."  
"Master, I'm sorry."  
"Sorry isn't good enough. You've made too many mistakes. I specifically told you not to touch him!"  
"But"  
"No buts!" The vampire grabbed his neck and squeezed the life out of him. Literally. I watched in horror and the life in Gabriel's brown eyes flickered away. He hung limp in the man's hand, some blood dripping from his mouth, onto the vamp's hand..

Then the vamp looked at me. His power felt familiar. It wasn't until I got a good look at him that I recognized him.

Thanatos.

"You son of a bitch."  
"Not very nice to speak to your elders that way," he countered back. "I'm a good four hundred and eighty years older than you. Don't provoke me."

I would have flipped him off if I could. But my hands were tied where he couldn't see them. I just stuck my tongue out at him.

"I know how you can use that," he chuckled as he walked towards me. He shed the robe he was wearing to reveal leather straps. Many leather straps, covering the majority of his private areas. He looked like a mummy that only had a mini-skirt on. He climbed onto the bed, and removed part of the straps, revealing himself. He straddled my neck, his cock hangning above my mouth. "You can use that tongue of yours to lick me." He squeezed my nose shut and shoved his cock into my mouth.

I gagged, and tried to bite him. He twisted my nose harder. I winced in pain. I didn't respond, I just lay there like a rag doll. He grabbed my head, and I could feel him trying to control me. I fought back, but my energy was so low... I felt myself start to suck on him, to my horror and disgust. I gagged. I didn't want to do this. I was the son of Shinigami!

"Even your powers can't save you. Those handcuffs have and will sap your power slowly until you die. Until then, I'll fuck that sweet mouth of yours." He thrusted deeper, and I gagged again. I hadn't eaten anything all day, so I had nothing to throw up. He let go of my nose so I could breathe, and I took a deep breath. I could smell his horrible stench of old blood and rotting flesh. He was a 500 year old vampire; of course he was going to smell like death.

"Ooh... You're just as good as your little friend, Hilde, right?" He said it like a question. My anger heightened. "She's a good little sucker; maybe she learned it from you!" As he said that, he pushed himself down into my throat. "I should tell your boyfriend what a good fuck you are... then I'll rip his throat out!" He laughed, withdrawing from my mouth. I leaned my head over to the side and spit out as much of his seed as I could. He laughed at my attempt to get rid of that nauseating taste in my mouth.

"Or maybe," Thanatos sneered, "maybe I should fuck your boyfriend first before I kill him! He looks rather yummy in those spandex shorts... I wonder what he looks like in leather!"

That enraged me like nothing else can. Heero is mine, mine to protect, mine to love. He was mine. "You... can't... touch... him!" I growled at him, and struggled in my restraints. But the more I struggled, the more energy I felt was leaving my body. "You bastard... Don't... even... think... of touching him!"

"I wouldn't struggle so much, my dear. You'll die sooner and I'll have less fun. I don't wanna ravish a corpse..." He pulled off my pants, ripping them in the process. He positioned himself right at my asshole. I clenched tightly, willing him not to enter. "No... You won't have me!" I said defiantly. The only person with that right was Heero.

"I will have you. You're the ultimate challenge to my libido; you can go on forever, with the energy you have. A normal vampire would have withered and passed out by now. Those handcuffs are very powerful. If you were a normal human, you would have been dead hours ago. But since you're still alive, I might as well take advantage of you." He tried to pry my butt-cheeks apart, but he couldn't. He pulled out a knife. He grabbed my braid, yanking it towards him. "Such gorgeous hair..."

"Wait, no..."  
"Then open up for me!"

It was either save my hair, or save my ass. I chose the latter. "No!"

"Fine." He lifted the knife and chopped a good foot off of my hair. My chestnut tresses fell to the bed, his hand clutching a handfull of my braided hair. He brought it to his nose, inhaling the scent.

"Mm, smells nice. If you prove to be a good lay, then I'll remove the spell from the cuffs and you can just lay there and be my sexual servant." He grinned at me, and started to push in...

The window crashed inwards, sending little pieces of glass flying everywhere. Thanatos put up a force shield, protecting himself from the glass shards. I felt something cut against my cheek. I winced, too weak to heal myself quickly.

A figure stood in the window, his brown hair ruffled and a dark purple aura glowing around him. Gee, wonder who that could be.

I remained still, waiting for one of them to make a move. Heero's energy was strong, too strong to be just him. I sensed someone else with him.

"Let go of Duo. Now," Heero commanded. Thanatos just laughed and threw off all his leather straps, revealing him in all his... non-glory. Heero just sneered. "Old man, you're nothing compared to me."

It was Thanatos' turn to sneer. He just stood there, staring at him. Heero staggered back. He stared back with a vengeance. Their power was incredible, and it took most of my power just to stay within range and not fly apart at the seams.

I looked at Heero, and his eyes flickered towards me. I knew that without my help, he was going to lose. I closed my eyes and willed my energy to Heero. It wasn't easy, and most of the energy went into the cursed shackles. I started to lose consciousness again. "Heero..." I whispered.

~_Duo..._~ He whispered back in my mind. I could feel him trying to give me energy, to save me. ~_No, stop,_~ I thought, ~_Please, take my energy instead. I know you can..._~

~_But Duo-sama..._~

~_No buts, and don't call me Duo-sama. We're friends, we're lovers... we're everything to each other. I'm your Duo. Just Duo. Now take my damn energy or I'll force it into you!_~

He finally complied, and I felt as if a heavy weight was being lifted from me. It wasn't exactly a good thing, because that's also the same feeling that you get before death. That's what Shinigami told me.

Heero's boost of energy overwhelmed Thanatos, and I felt his life force float out of his body. "Aahgh," Thantos moaned as I concentrated and touched the darkness once more, summoning the power within. Most the energy went into the handcuffs again, but I had enough to reach out, and squeeze his heart with my power. Thanatos choked his last, and fell forward, black blood seeping into the bed and floor.

"Duo, daijoubu ka?"

Even after spending this much time with Heero, I still didn't know what that meant. "What?"

"I mean, are you okay?"

I nodded. Heero broke the chains, freeing me from my imprisonment. The spell had broken when Thanatos died. "Heero?"  
"Hn?"  
"I... thanks. Thanks a lot."  
"Hn."

I just smiled. This time, I was happy just to be near him. But something was missing. Wasn't I forgetting something?

"Oh shit, Hilde!"

Heero looked at me and shook his head. "No."  
"What do you mean 'no'?"  
"You don't have the energy. You rest, I'll go find Hilde."  
"But"  
"I'm taking you home. Then I'll go and find Hilde."  
"You don't need to."  
"But I want to." Heero gently kissed my forehead, and took me home. I just hoped that she was alright, and could hold out until Heero got to her.

Please be okay, Hilde.

* * *

[1]: Please don't kill me, this is just how I think Duo would think of all of this... Don't blame me, blame the muse... I *like* Pargan, just to let the rest of you know... Okay, I'm rambling now, I'll stop...  
[2]: This is from the song "Otherside" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Anyway, feel free to e-mail me your rants and raves, just don't cuss me out, okay?


	11. Chapter 11

This is Part 11 of this fic. I just bought and I am currently reading _Obisidian Butterfly_, one of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake books, so you might see some references from that. Things are gonna get sticky... The first few lines are kinda influenced by Vision of Escaflowne...  
~_blah_~ = thoughts, "blah" = talk  
This is my first GW fic series, there is some violence, strong language and it has the yaoi pairings of Heero & Duo (Ack, they're equal partners, so I guess I would say 2x1/1x2, right?) and Quatre and Trowa (once again, I don't want to be yelled at for not saying the correct pair. Let's just say they are equal partners as well). So if you don't like male/male pairings, then don't read this, or pretend that Quatre and Duo are chicks. Okay?

**Eternity of Blood**

**Part 11**

**By: Top Ace**

It was a dream.

No, more like a vision.

Hilde was tied to a cross, her arms tied to the arms of the cross and her legs bound and broken. Heero was on a bed nearby, a woman behind him sucking his blood. The woman had fiery red hair, and when she looked up her eyes glowed an intense green, and burned with the fire of evil. She smiled, shoved her hand into Heero's chest, and pulled out his heart. It beat in her hand, pulsating ever slower. Heero's eyes were wide open with shock, and the blood flowed like a crimson river.

And I screamed myself awake.

"Aaaah!" I rolled out of bed, hitting my head on the nightstand. "Oh, crap," I groaned, and I picked myself up off the floor. I looked out the window to see the moon and the stars. My clock said it was 4:20 AM. I came home at dusk. Heero should have come back with Hilde by now.

I was about to run out of the room when I realized that I only had my boxers on. I had bandages around my wrists and one on my face where the glass had cut me. I felt a little dizzy thanks to my fall, but nonetheless better than before. Heero must have given me some of his energy to heal me.

I pulled on my priest's shirt, collar and black riding pants. Over that I put on a cloak that I got from Shinigami. It made me look cool, at least, I thought it did. And it rippled in the wind like in those old westerns. I checked myself out in the mirror. ~_If looks could kill, I'd be on InterPol's top ten list,_~ I thought. Of course, the cloak also protected me from minor attacks, but who cares about that?

I can't believe that I still manage to be somewhat vain in the face of danger. I rushed out to my car and hit the gas, knowing that admiring myself in the mirror probably cost me a few good moments. Oh well, I'm sure I can manage.

I pulled up to the back parking lot of Bloody Delights. I had forgotten my weaponry at home. But I don't think I'll need it. I barged into the back, and stared at all the vamps and vampire junkies. They just looked at me blankly, and then resumed their activities. I marched towards the room that I had been trapped in. The royal suite. I smashed down the door.

Inside was the exact same scene as I saw in my dream. "Let them go, now," I growled, my anger flaring. Murdida just looked at me, smirking.

"I don't think you know what position you are in," she said haughtily. She grabbed Heero's chin in her hand. "Do you see this? This is your precious little lover." Heero was awake, but not in control. Murdida's power, and the fact that he was only as half strength, was keeping him in a state of drowsiness.

Murdida put a hand over Heero's heart. "And this..." She shoved her hand into his chest, blood pouring over it.

Did I say I could manage?

I threw myself over to them, and grabbed her hand. I snapped her wrist, the sound of cracking bone creating silence in the room. A few uncomfortable seconds passed by. Murdida said nothing, and I flung her aside like a rag doll.

"You bitch! How dare you!" I screamed, but she was still in shock, and not really paying attention to what I was saying. She kept staring at her hand, as if it was a dream and she didn't believe it. I poured my energy over her, and I suddenly felt her fear. She was afraid of death, of what lay beyond this world. I felt a tinge of guilt, but I could not forgive her for what she had done. My power wound around her heart, and I felt it beat feebly in my mind. I had the power.

"For what you have done, you go to Hell."

I squeezed, and it popped like a water balloon in the grass. She started gasping. I looked into those green eyes, and I felt good. Real good. So good, that it scared me.

I flung the rest of my power into Hilde, healing her and breaking the bonds around her. She sprang up into action, and in a frenzy of hands and teeth, she ripped Murdida apart.

"Heero..." I walked over to his prone body, slouched over when Murdida had shoved her hand into his chest. I kneeled down on the bed, and pulled him into my lap, his head resting in the crook of my arm. "Come on, wake up."

All I got was silence.

"Heero, please... the dead can't die... right? Heero..."

Hilde kneeled down next to me. She was bleeding all over, but it wasn't her blood, so it was okay. [1] "It'll be okay, Duo. I'm sure he'll wake up..." She passed out, for what reasons, I don't know. I checked her pulse, and it was still there, but faint. I was guessing that she was just tired.

I heard footsteps outside of the doorway. I had kicked down the door, so people could peek in and see what was going on. I knew I needed to get out of here soon.

Dammit. Get the hell up, Heero. I started chanting.

"Rise to me now. Come to my hand..."

It wasn't working. I cut the palm of my hand with a piece of glass and shoved it into his chest wound. "Come to me, Heero. Rise to my voice, my hand, my blood. Rise and answer me. Heero Yuy, rise now and obey me!"

His eyes fluttered. His lips moved. He opened his eyes and sat straight up, then looked at me. You have no idea how happy I was. I grabbed him and held him close to me, pouring my energy into him to heal his wound. "Heero... my love, my life, I'm glad you're back..." He just nodded, and collapsed into my arms, his wound healed, his breathing steady. I carried both him and Hilde out of the building. No one questioned me. I guess it was the power I was exuding. A side effect of me getting angry.

"Nothing to see here," I said, as I walked out into the back lot, gently put Hilde and Heero into the car, and drove away. The smile on my face was brighter than the sun rising in the sky.

"Duo!" Quatre's voice rang out as I hopped out of the car. He hugged me tightly, glad that I was safe. "Let me help you," he said as he gently picked up Hilde from the car. Trowa was behind him, and he picked Heero and they carried them into the house. I followed behind them, but I was so tired I could barely lift up my feet. I felt myself falling...

"Tired?"

Wufei had caught me, and I looked up at him. He was a handsome guy, I'll give him that. But I usually didn't feel compassion and caring feelings from him. At least, not this openly. He never showed his caring feelings for me and the guys.

"Wufei?" I managed to squeak. Great, I squeaked twice in one week. Already I felt like a pansy.

He chuckled and picked me up and took me inside.

Hilde, Heero and I lay in a row on the floor. We were laying on some sleeping bags on a hardwood floor, and it wasn't very comfortable. Quatre, Trowa and Wufei were taking care of us, so I guess it wasn't too bad. I felt like there was a vein trying to pop out of my forehead. Trowa gave me some aspirin, and I fell asleep trying to ignore the sudden ache in my heart. I think I was feeling Heero's pain. I looked over at him. He didn't look like he was breathing, but at least the bleeding had stopped.

Heero... Please get well...

I woke up to hear the radio say it was the 12th of June. I've been asleep for a week. I looked around groggily, blinking my eyes to get accustomed to the light. It probably was the middle of the day, I think. I looked over at my clock. 11:20 AM. Close enough. I threw off the covers, pulled on a shirt and trudged downstairs.

I wasn't surprised to see Hilde and Heero sipping their coffee, in perfect condition. They didn't even look hurt, or look like they felt any pain. I felt like a herd of cows ran me over. A good, strong cup of coffee will fix that.

"Feeling better?" Hilde asked. I nodded. "Heero and I healed after a couple of days of sleep. We were worried about you," she went on to say. "But at least you're awake now. Here's some coffee." She pointed to the mug sitting at my spot on the table.

I stared at it for a few minutes, then I looked at her. "How did you know I was gonna wake up?"  
"I didn't. Quatre said so."

Quatre... empath, healer, and now psychic? How many powers does he have?

"Hello, Winner estates, this is Iria speaking."  
"Hey, this is Duo Maxwell, a close friend of Quatre's."  
"Oh, I've heard of you... what's happened?"  
"Well..." I paused, not knowing what to say.  
"Something didn't happen to Quatre, did it?"  
"No, it's just that... well, I think you should come here and see..."

Iria, Quatre's older sister, arrived in San Francisco three hours after I had called her. She rushed over to me, and started bombarding me with questions. I just held my hand up, and we walked towards my jeep, and we drove home in silence.

"Iria! It's so nice to see you again," Quatre said warmly as he got up to hug his sister. They embraced, but Iria pulled back to look at him, with scrutinizing eyes. "What is it?" Quatre asked.

"Something's... off about you."

"Oh... well, I think have supernatural powers..."

Iria's eyes widened, and then she stood back. She closed her eyes, and a yellow glow surrounded her, and then it surrounded Quatre. "Yup, you do. I was wondering when you'd start showing your powers."

Quatre freaked. "You knew I would have powers? Why didn't you tell me?"

She shrugged. "For a while, I thought you didn't have powers... You see, only a third of our family has these powers, Quatre. Mom was half... um... I guess you could say she was half mutant."

"Mutant?"

"Think about it, Quatre. Not many people have powers like ours. Technically speaking, we're mutants; you know, genetically different than regular humans. Much like your friends." She gestured towards the rest of us. "So I can teach you a little about your powers."

"Relena's already taught him a little," I said.

She looked at me quizzically. "She has the same powers as Quatre?"

"Well, mostly. Quatre also can heal and has psychic abilities..." I trailed off, because I didn't have anything else to say, really.

The room grew silent, and then Iria walked over to Quatre and took his hand. "Come little brother, let's see what you've learned."

They left to some room in Quatre's house, probably in the back. That left me and the guys sitting around in silence. Wufei got up and left, saying something about taking care of the baby. I'm surprised he's spent so much time with us as it is.

Trowa left to roam around in the forest. Lately he's been training, making himself stronger. I guess ever since he was nearly killed by those vampires, he's wanted to become stronger, so he can protect those he loves.

Hilde and Heero went to sleep, because it was 3 PM, and as you know, vampires don't like the daylight all too much.

As for me, well, since I was half-vampire, I could kinda feel the effects of the sun, but since I was also half human, the effects weren't as strong as on Heero and Hilde. I went outside, and basked in the sun. I think I fell asleep.

A shadow crossed my sunlight, and I blinked open my eyes. Wufei stood over me, staring me in the face.

"Shouldn't you be training for the battle? Hm?"  
"Jesus Wufei, haven't you ever heard of R&R?"  
"Yes, but it won't help now. You need to train."  
"I just had a serious power leak, and you expect me to be up on my feet and prancing around?"  
"You've been asleep for the past week."  
"Oh. Eh heh..." I got up, feeling quite sheepish.

"Here." Wufei thrust a scythe into my face. I took it, and checked it's weight. The staff was light, so it was probably made out of some special metal. The blade was heavy, and as I looked closer, it was inlaid with something; I think it was silver, against the undead and lycanthropes.  
"What's this for?"  
"It's for you. Take your rightful place as the God of Death."

"Thanks, Wufei." I smiled, and he smiled back. I think we had a clear moment of perfect understanding before everything turned back to the fuzzy grey that was normality. "So, how do I use this thing?"

"I'll train you."

"Oh boy..."

After what seemed like hours, wait, it was hours, but anyway, I felt like horse crap. Wufei had beaten me on numerous occasions. I think I tripped more than that ancient president, Gerald Ford. [2]

And Wufei had just a wooden staff.

"Wu-man, why is it that you can kick my ass with a measly stick?"  
"Maybe because you suck at using real weapons."  
"Shut up."

He laughed, and I laughed along with him. He was right though. I did suck, and I would need to stop sucking as soon as possible.

Wufei had left after the sun went down. I watched him go, riding that souped up Kawasaki of his. I'm glad that he was willing to help and all... but for his sake, and the sake of Sally and Liu Po, I'm not letting him come along anymore. No more battles for him. I've seen the blood of friends too much as it is. I don't really want to see any more.

I walked inside, and went straight to my room. I needed some sleep. I shed my clothes and was about to plop down on my bed when I stopped. Heero was sprawled out on my bed, nothing on but his boxers. His expression was content, and he looked like he was enjoying his dream, from the small smile that he had on. I sat on the side of the bed, and brushed his hair from his eyes. He leaned towards my hand, a content little noise coming from his throat.

The wound that was in his chest had healed completely, except for a little pockmark where his heart was. I leaned over him and kissed it.

"Duo?" He looked up at me, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He looked totally different, like a little boy who has found his home.

"Hey," I said. I smiled softly as he yawned and sat up. He snuggled himself into my arms. "Duo-sama..."

I gotta teach him to just call me Duo...

The next morning, I found Quatre with Iria outside in the backyard. They were flying. I blinked a few times to make sure that I hadn't died and gone to heaven. Why did I think I had gone to heaven? Well, the fact that they had white angel wings kinda made me think that. I don't know why, but they were flying around, white feathers falling here and there. They looked like two angels out of the bible, with their blond hair and fair skin. [3]

I shook my head and walked back inside. I've seen so much supernatural phenomena recently that I wasn't really surprised anymore.

I chugged a cup of coffee and pulled out my scythe. It was state of the art. Wufei said that the doctors had the blue prints for a huge one for my Deathscythe. It was for when the thermal scythe broke or got lost in space; there would be extra ones on the belt of my gundam just in case. Wufei had gotten the plans for it and had Howard build one for me.

The scythe when it was compacted was about the size of an paper towel tube. When I pushed a button on the side, it would expand to about my height, and a blade would come out from the top. Well, usually it came out from the top. Sometimes I would hold it the wrong way. I quickly learned, for the blade had come quite close to chopping off my foot on several occasions.

Quatre and Iria walked back inside the house.

"So, are you guys going to tell me what's up?"  
"What do you mean, Duo?"  
"I mean, Quatre, what's up with the angel wings."  
"Oh... I guess you saw us flying out there. When everyone else gets up I'll tell you."

And so the gang gathered around Quatre and Iria, gawking at their wings. Quatre smiled angelically; heh, go figure.

"Well, let me explain. Our mother was one of the last few houris [4], a race of beautiful angel-like people who had wings like ours. It is said that they were the ones who caused the destruction of Atlantis. Mother was only half-houri, but she still had a lot of power.

"Our father and mother met on earth, while my father was on a business trip. They fell in love, and went to the colonies. I was the only child that Mother gave birth to, for my 29 sisters are all test tube children. Mother wanted to give a natural birth to a son, so that Father would have an heir."

We all nodded, absorbing the information.

"We need to start planning." Wufei stepped out from behind a corner, and looked at Quatre for a moment. "A houri... I thought they were all extinct by now."

Quatre shrugged. "I'm living proof..."

Wufei nodded. "Now, we need to start thinking about getting rid of this Morbius character. He seems to be a problem..." We all nodded in agreement. Now was the time to act.

We had laid out the plans. Hilde was to lead us to him, then I would go in and fight him. Alone. I wasn't going to risk anyone else getting hurt. The others would cover me while I got in. It was going to be tough, since Hilde had told us that there were many goons that were willing to fight for Morbius. I didn't know exactly how many, but from what Hilde said, it seemed like a lot.

By the time we had planned everything, it was late into the night. Wufei left once again, and I told him to stay home this time. He smirked and said, "I'm not missing out on this. Don't worry, Sally and Liu Po will be okay."

I hoped so. I clutched my gold cross, and prayed that no one would get hurt. If anyone was going to get hurt, it was going to be Morbius for turning my world upside down. I stayed in the living room until everyone had left, and stared out the window. I wondered how Shinigami was doing. After all, he is my father, right?

"It's nice to know that you care," a familiar voice spoke.  
"Well, if I didn't, it'd be pretty dishonorable of me, wouldn't it?"

Shinigami laughed, and floated down to sit next to me. "I think Wufei has influenced your thinking," he joked. Then he turned serious. "Son, I hope you know what you're doing."  
"Don't worry, I know."  
"You know, I never got the chance to tell you... how much..."  
"Don't even say it, DAD. I know." I put emphasis on the word Dad, for I knew...

The bond between father and son goes beyond logic sometimes.

Shinigami disappeared, to whence he came. I dragged myself upstairs to my room. Hilde was using Heero's room, so Heero was going to spend his nights in mine. It wasn't like he was using his room anyways. I threw off my clothes and crawled into bed. A hand reached over and touched my boxers. "Mmm... silk," Heero mumbled in his sleep.

I smiled, and thought about how much he had changed. I mean, if you compared him to before he was a vamp, and then now... He was a totally different person. I think I like him better this way. He's a bit more open.

I drew him into my arms, and fell asleep.

It was a dream.  
Maybe it was a vision.  
No... I'm pretty sure it was a dream.

I was in a black room, with all sorts of weaponry on the wall. Intricately carved black double doors were in front of me. I turned around and saw a silver throne, and a man in a cloak. He stood up and flung his cloak away with a flourish, revealing his features. He looked like a young man, probably about my age, but I could feel that he was older. Much older.

"Welcome, son of Shinigami. Welcome to my humble abode." He bowed down, then looked up to meet my eyes. He had the bluest eyes I've seen, even bluer than Heero's.

"I am Morbius."

I gaped for a moment, the recollected my wits. "You... how did you get into my head?"

"I can get into anyone's head. I am more powerful than you could possibly imagine." He floated over to me, and we stood eye to eye. He tilted his head to one side, and looked me up and down. "Come with me. Forget being heir, and taste the power that I can give you."

He leaned forward and kissed me, and I felt the power flow through my body. I hungered for more, but against my body's wishes, I broke away. "No. I'll never join you."

He just started laughing and floated back to his throne. He sat down, and stared at me with those hypnotic blue eyes of his. "Oh, you WILL join me. Come to me." He lifted his hand, and I felt myself drawn to him. I took one step, then another, until I stood before him. "Kneel," he commanded, and I obeyed, kneeling at his feet. He pulled me into his lap, and I lay there, content like a puppy. "I can give you happiness, peace. Isn't that what you want? Peace..."

I closed my eyes and let him hold me like a little child...

_"Duo-sama..."_

Heero...

I gasped and pulled away. "Dammit! No, I can't give in to you. I have other friends, people to protect. You're going down!"

Morbius just chuckled. "Ah, but you already have given in to me. We'll see..." The throne floated away, carrying him with it. I chased after it, but it kept getting farther with each step I took.

"Bastard!"

I woke up rather calmly, instead of the screaming and cold sweat which I had become accustomed to lately. I looked over and watched Heero sleep. It was he who saved me from becoming Morbius' footstool in that dream. I leaned over and kissed him lightly on the forehead.

"Duo-sama?"  
"Damn, how many times have I told you? Just Duo."  
"Duo."

I sighed. Was he always going to be like this? I was already starting to miss the old Heero.

He closed his eyes and went back to sleep. I looked at the clock. 12:20 PM. I decided that getting up would be a good idea.

I went downstairs after changing, greeted Quatre and Trowa who were downstairs, and ate some of Iria's lunch. She's an okay cook... not as good as Trowa, of course.

"You ready?" Quatre asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah..." Tonight was the night where we were going to go against Morbius. Tonight was the night of destiny, where the future of this world, and Shinigami's world, was to be decided.

"But Wufei isn't coming," I stated firmly.

"Like hell I'm not coming." Wufei walked into the room, his usual outfit on. The weird pants, the tank top, and his jacket. His sword was strapped to his belt, and he had a few throwing knives too.

"Wufei," I reasoned, "if you get hurt, or killed, how am I going to explain to Sally?"

"I won't. And she understands. In fact, she got me the knives."

I gave up. Let him come. He was better at using weapons than me anyways.

The rest of the day passed in quiet contemplation. Quatre and Trowa were out on the swing, quietly enjoying each other's company. Wufei was meditating on the porch. Hilde was sleeping, and Heero... well, Heero was with me. And where was I? I was at the amusement park, riding on the ferris wheel.

"Tell me again why we're here," Heero said.  
"I've never been on a ferris wheel before... never had the chance when I was young."  
"Shouldn't we be training?" Ah, that's the Heero I know: always thinking about the mission.  
"Aw, come on! This might be my last chance to do anything!"  
"Hn."  
"You're no fun."

In response, Heero pulled me into his arms for a gentle embrace. I was surprised for a moment, but then I sank into his arms and looked out the window, and watched the world go 'round.

"Dammit Maxwell, why are you always late?"  
"Chill out Wufei, it's not like we're going to miss anything."  
"Hmph." Wufei crossed his arms and looked the other way.

I smirked. That guy still needs to loosen up.

I looked at my friends. Quatre had on a loose long sleeved shirt and some khakis. Trowa had on some old jeans and a large white T-shirt.

"Alright, let's go. We need to go back to the warehouse on Fisherman's Wharf. I can find our way from there," Hilde said as she came out. She was wearing black pants and a black tank top. She had combat boots and she had a gun holster on both sides of her hips. She looked dressed to kill.

Wufei, Quatre and Trowa piled into Quatre's Mustang, and Heero, Hilde and I got into my Jeep. We headed out towards Fisherman's Wharf.

"Over here. Take a left." I followed Hilde's directions to a T, as we drove through a winding forest road.

When we had arrived at Fisherman's Wharf, Hilde closed her eyes and suddenly knew the way, which to me was very odd. It was also very suspicious. I didn't know if Hilde was under Morbius' control or not.

After driving for what seemed like hours, we arrived at the foot of a small hill. On top of the hill was a fortress. It looked like one of those old Spanish forts that they built here to keep an eye out for the British. I looked at Hilde, and she nodded. We had to get out of the car and climb the rest of the way. Quatre pulled up behind us, and we all got out of our respective cars.

"Well," I said a little too nervously, "the moment of truth. You guys ready?"

They all gave a nod of assent. I turned and started hiking up the hill, the others following me; my posse.

I just hoped my 'posse' could hold out against Morbius' goons, or we'd all be dead. Well and truly dead.

* * *

[1]: I got this from the first line in _Obsidian Butterfly_, the newest book in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series.  
[2]: I've got nothing against Ford, but he was quite clumsy, or so I've heard...  
[3]: I just watched the episode of Escaflowne where Van gets the angel wings... So you might be seeing some more Escaflowne references...  
[4]: Houri - one of the beautiful virgins of the Koranic paradise from the Islam religion. I just kinda tweaked with the mythology to fit my purposes...

Anyway, feel free to e-mail me your rants and raves, just don't cuss me out, okay?


	12. Chapter 12

This is Part 12 of this fic. The end is finally at hand. Took me friggin' long enough!  
The POV is still Duo's, but it's going to be kind of weird, since I wanted to describe everyone's actions, so bear with me please.  
~_blah_~ = thoughts, "blah" = talk  
This is my first GW fic series, there is violence, strong language and it has the yaoi pairings of Heero & Duo and Quatre & Trowa. So if you don't like male/male pairings, then don't read this, or pretend that Quatre and Duo are chicks. Okay?

**Eternity of Blood**

**Part 12**

**By: Top Ace**

We got to the top of the hill, and there stood the huge fort. I gathered my courage, and walked towards the door. A hand grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back.

"Ack, what?"  
"Maxwell, you of all people should know."  
"Know what?"  
"Never knock on the enemy's door."  
"Oh, right."

What was I thinking? Jeez, me of all people. I specialized in stealth and covert ops. Maybe all this vampire stuff was getting to my head. I walked around to the edge of the hill. There were no windows for me to climb into, just a cliff that dropped to the sea. There was no other way in other than the front gate. No stealth goodness for me.

"There isn't any other way in," I informed the others. They just shrugged.  
"Then I say we go in and fight," Wufei said.

It seemed the others agreed, for they all started heading for the door. I just followed them.

Wufei slowly opened the door and peered inside. He gave the okay, and we all cautiously entered the fort. There was a huge hallway in front of us, and most of the decorations were old, really old. It looked as if nothing had been changed for a thousand years.

We all heard the sound before Quatre did, but it was too late for him. He slammed into the opposite wall before we could do anything. "Quatre!", Trowa shouted. He ran to his side, and checked him.

"I'm okay," Quatre said. He stood up, a determined look on his face. "Come out!"

A group of ninjas, maybe about twenty of them, flew from the walls. I mean it, they just literally came from the walls. They wore all black, and their eyes glowed red, like rubies. And they attacked us head on.

Wufei was the first to strike one down. He slashed one in half with his sword, and it wafted away like smoke. I drew out my scythe and sliced another one. Heero and Hilde were back to back, then leaped forward, ripping into the shadows like they were made out of paper. Trowa was fighting like a lion, pouncing on the shadows and knocking off their pseudo-heads. These shadow ninjas were relatively easy to defeat.

Then the scattered remains reformed into full ninjas again, and attacked us again.

"This isn't working!", Trowa yelled.  
"I know, but what else can we do?", I replied.

Then I noticed that Quatre was in the corner, blocking off any attacks with an energy shield. A lot of power was coming from his direction; I wonder what Iria taught him...

Then I found out, for a flash of brightness engulfed him, and rays of light shot out from him. Each ray hit one of the shadows in the area where the heart should be. They shrieked and disintegrated into dust.

And Quatre collapsed.

"Quatre!" We all ran to him, and he tried to stand up, but he shakily fell down again. "I'm sorry you guys," he breathed. "I don't think I can go with you for a while. Go on ahead, I'll catch up."

Trowa kneeled down next to him. "I'll stay here to make sure he's okay."  
"Trowa, you don't"  
"Shh. I know."

Quatre smiled, and leaned into Trowa's embrace. Trowa looked at us, and with all the wisdom in that emerald eye of his, told us to go.

"Alright, but make sure you stay safe," Hilde said. We turned and walked down the hallway, leaving two of our comrades behind.

I didn't want to do it, but sometimes, the hardest decisions are the ones you don't want to make.

After a while, we reached a door. A rusty-hinged, wooden door. I opened it, and it made a loud creaking noise, causing me to jump. Wufei batted my arm for my stupidity. "Chun-choy," he said. [1] I didn't know what that meant, but it was probably something mean in Chinese.

I peered inside. I saw a wall directly in front of me. I looked around and saw the stairs. They went down in a spiral, at least I thought so because they started curving around the center when I looked around a little more.

"No way to go but down," I said. We all walked cautiously down the long stairwell, looking for traps or any other goodies Morbius might have put out for us. But amazingly, nothing was around.

When we got to the bottom, we saw another long corridor. We walked past several doors on either side, each one with a strange symbol. I think we passed four doors total, and then there was another door at the end with another strange symbol.

"Wait."

We all turned to look at Wufei. He stared at the fifth door. Then he walked back to look at the other doors. We followed him quietly. We knew that staying together was probably our best bet at staying alive.

"These symbols... are Chinese," Wufei stated. "Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth." He pointed to each door as he said their symbol. "Someone here knows the five elements theory," Wufei said. [2]

"You got that right."

We all turned towards the voice. Someone had followed us down the stairwell without any of us sensing him. That's not good.

A man with a foo-man-choo and a red sorcerer's robe stood behind us. He had dark brown hair and golden brown eyes. He held in his hand a peculiar looking staff. From the looks of it, it seemed to be entwined with snakes. He looked to be about 30 in human years, but God only knows how old he really was.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Wai-Yun." [3]

"That tells us a lot," I responded. Wufei snickered.  
"I am not here for your amusement, boy. I sense the Dragon's blood here."

Thus Wufei stepped up to bat. "I am the one who possesses the Dragon's blood."

The expression on Wai-Yun's face turned positively evil. "Then you shall die, like my ancestors did three thousand years ago."

Wufei pulled out his sword. "I am prepared." He looked at Heero, Hilde and I. "Go through that door," he said while pointing to the door that had the symbol of Earth. "Hurry," he added with urgency.

I didn't want to leave my buddy here alone, but we started to walk, while Wufei guarded us. As soon as we had walked past Wai-Yun and got to the door, I felt a wind blow around us. Somewhere in my mind, it clicked that the wind that just blew wasn't natural. I whirled around, just quickly enough to catch Wufei flying towards me. I caught him, and we flew back to hit the door. That door was softer than I thought it would be, and incredibly warm...

"Duo..."

I turned to see that Heero had caught us, but our weight flying at him had also knocked him into the door. He wasn't too hurt fortunately. Can't hurt a 128 pound weapon of destruction. I turned back around to glare at Wai-Yun.

"I guess you're here to stop us," I muttered.

He laughed, a hearty sound, then spread his hands in a friendship gesture. "Come now, did you expect Master Morbius to let you into his chambers without a test?"

And that was the only warning we got before three rods of lightning tried to zap us.

I leaped out of the way dragging Wufei with me, while Heero and Hilde jumped out of the way in a different direction. I let go of Wufei, who stood on his own and glared at the man. We watched Wai-Yun for a moment, and then we pounced, from different directions.

He phased out of the way and we nearly had a head-on collision. Shit.

"What? Can't catch the bird?" He laughed before saying, "And thus the dragons have been caught in a trap. And the bird will have his revenge."

This guy was just plain confusing. What was with the bird and dragon remarks? Why did he have a problem with Wufei's clan? And why the hell do I even care?

I closed my eyes and summoned the power within. But Wufei yelled, "STOP!"  
"Why?"  
"You need your power for the fight with Morbius. Let me handle this. It's my clan..."

I didn't want to let Wufei fight alone. I looked back behind me. Hilde and Heero had backed off. Now I really didn't want to let him fight alone.

"Wufei..."  
"Just back off, Maxwell."  
"But..."  
"Duo." That's one of the few times he has called me by my first name.  
"What?"  
"Just do as I ask. Please. I will tell you about this later."

~_Yeah, if there's a later,_~ my morbid mind thought. I took a few steps back and gave him some space. I would let him fight, but if he looked like he needed help, I was gonna jump in and kick some ass.

Hilde, Heero, and I watched like spectators at a golf tournament, silent as a cemetery. Wufei put his sword away, and placed his hands together, as if he was praying. He started chanting, "Gum, Moock, Shoi, Foh, Toe..." [4] A ring appeared around him, and the shape of a five-pointed star appeared within the circle. Each point was lit with a different color, probably representing the five elements that he was talking about before. The colors were yellow, green, blue, red, and brown.

Wai-Yun was standing, his arms crossed over his chest, a smirk plastered all over his goddamned face. He made a quick symbol in the air, too quickly for me to catch it. But soon, it glowed, and we all saw what it was. An upside-down star.

"Dammit, an inverted pentagram," Wufei muttered. He made a triangle with his hands and shot some energy out of it, but Wai-Yun's force field blocked it, sending the energy towards us. I dodged out of the way, but Hilde took part of the blast in the shoulder. She screamed as it burned the skin, making it look like blackened paper.

"Hilde!" I shouted as I ran to help her. She seemed okay, and the wound started healing almost immediately. I glared at Wai-Yun, and he just smiled. "Such beautiful faces shouldn't frown so much," he sneered.

That was it. Wufei or not, I was gonna kick some ass. I marched up towards him, but two strong arms pulled me back. "Let go Heero."

"Sorry, but Wufei said he would handle it."  
"Who is your master?"  
"You... but..."  
"Let me go."

I could feel Heero shake his head. His grip loosened but he didn't let go of me. Something was off about the entire situation, and I didn't like it.

"FEI HOONG!" Wufei shouted, sending forth a massive blast of energy, the likes which I have never seen, at least from him. The bluish-white energy took the form of a Chinese dragon, with its mouth open, rushing to eat its prey. Wai-Yun stood there like a statue, smirking. He put his hand up, and his force field dissipated and turned into a huge dark red phoenix, creating a shield around him.

The dragon and phoenix clashed, two symbols of happiness and luck in the Chinese culture turning against each other in an epic battle to the death.

Heero held me tightly again, as if he feared I would fly away to help Wufei and get myself killed in the process. I looked back at Hilde, who was staring at the scene, clutching her shoulder protectively. This wasn't fair.

"The dragon... is strong..." Wai-Yun muttered as he upped his power, making the phoenix-shield glow a dark crimson. Wufei's face reflected the determination in his heart, and he made a final decision. He leaped into Wai-Yun's force field.

In my shock, I could hear a voice scream, "WUFEI!"

Oh, hey, it was me.

There was a massive jolt as the cavern we were in started to shake with the power of their blasts. "We need to get out of here, right now!" Heero yelled in my ear. I shook my head violently. I tried getting out of his grasp to help Wufei, but he held me tight. He dragged me to the door, while Hilde opened it for us. I kicked and screamed, trying to get back, but my two vampire friends dragged me through the door and shut it. There was no noise coming through, and no power leaking through either. We were cut off from the outside.

"Wufei..."

And then there were three.

"Let's move on. Wufei would want us to continue. He had his own thing to do," Heero said emotionlessly.

I sulked, and followed them down the hallway.

The hallway lead to a pair of doors, black as midnight. They had several archaic symbols, carved into the doors. I touched the material, and it felt like stone; it was probably marble. The entire feel of the place seemed a bit familiar. "There's no way that we can already be here," I mumbled.

"Be where?", Hilde asked.  
"At his main hall."

They both looked at me. "I've never been here physically, but I had a dream about it," I told them. Only Hilde seemed a bit eased by my answer and backed off. But of course, Heero would be a bit suspicious about my dreams.

"You had a dream?"  
"Relax Heero, it was just a little dream. No biggie."

He either didn't believe me or decided to ignore it, for he turned away and didn't say anything else. I moved to open the door. It creaked open as I pushed at it with all my strength. It was a heavy door.

"Welcome, Son of Shinigami. Welcome to your death."

The owner of that voice was exactly who I had suspected. "Morbius," I calmly stated. He was dressed in what he had in the dream; he wore a black cloak, fluffly black pants, and a dark red poet's shirt, unbuttoned, of course. Heero and Hilde jumped and stood in a defensive postion, flanking me as I walked towards the silver throne. "Stop this. I have rights to the Shadow Lands. You, on the other hand, don't. So step down." Me, feeling haughty?

"Ah. Hah hah. I don't think so." He stood and walked towards me gracefully. "I seem to have a problem with authority." He made a quick move, and I leaped back. He laughed again, and I realized that he had bluffed. "A little jumpy, aren't we?", he said with a mocking tone. "I think YOU should be the one who steps down."

"Enough of this banter. Let's see who really deserves the title of Shinigami," Heero stated plainly.

"Ooh, let's," Morbius said quietly. He lifted his arm, and suddenly Heero and Hilde fell to their knees.

"Heero! Hilde!" I shouted, and looked at both of them. They were grasping their heads, shaking and shuddering, as if someone were trying to tear apart their skulls and reach into their brains to control them. Control! I threw a energy blast at Morbius. He gracefully dodged, without losing grip on their minds. I charged him, my hands crackling with energy.

Then I felt someone coming up behind me. Before I could turn around, he had his arms around me and was holding on to my wrists. I knew the identity of my attacker before Morbius spoke.

"How does it feel to have your own servant go against you, Son of Shinigami?"  
"I have a name, you know."  
"Oh? And what might that be?"  
"You can read minds, figure it out."  
"Duo? Duo as in, double?"  
"Yeah, double trouble."

Morbius laughed at my last remark. He waved his hand, and Hilde was kneeling before him. "What a lovely specimen, extremely spirited." He petted her head, and she nuzzled his leg, like a dog. He lifted his hand, and she stood before him. He ran his hands over her body. "Beautiful. I may have to keep her."

"You keep your grubby paws off of her!", I screamed. He just laughed and continued to pet her. He sat back on his throne and threw back his cape. He waved for Hilde to come closer, and she kneeled before him. I noticed that she was in between his legs. "If you make her do anything sexual, I'm gonna tear your throat out!"

He laughed, a sound that reverberated through my body. It felt like the throes of a climax, and it touched things that a mere laugh should not have touched. I may have underestimated his power.

Morbius touched Hilde's head, and she did the unspeakable. She nuzzled his crotch, then pulled out his cock and started sucking on it. I writhed, trying to get away from Heero without hurting him. But he held fast, Morbius' power over him making him hold me tight. Then he started rubbing my groin. I knew something weird was going on. Gee, that made me sound stupid, didn't it?

Morbius' power over Hilde and Heero didn't waver, but it did change. While he was forcing Hilde to do something sexual, he couldn't keep the same kind of control over Heero. Am I making sense? I knew that if Morbius changed his type of control, then it would be over both of them. That was why Heero was stroking me. And it was proving to be to Morbius' advantage, since my mind was becoming numb with pleasure.

"God, Heero, you gotta stop... or else..." I couldn't say anything else, for he had slipped a hand into my pants and was giving me the best goddamned hand job in my life. Jesus, this had to stop. I swallowed my passion and tried to break away again. He held me fast, and unfortunately for me, Morbius noticed.

"Squeeze," Morbius commanded.

Heero's hand clamped down hard on me, the pain shooting through me like an arrow. I felt burning tears coming from my eyes, and I swear I saw stars for a moment before he started jacking me off again. I panted as the unwanted pleasure ripped through me. "No... not now..."

Heero took his hand out of my pants. Then he threw me against the wall, and the stars returned for a moment. He pulled my pants low enough to have access to my cock, and started sucking for all he was worth.

"NO! Heero, stop!"

But he wouldn't listen to my pleas, and sucked mercilessly.

Morbius was obviously enjoying Hilde's mouth, for he was moaning and petting her gently. I wanted to rip his dick off and shove it down his throat. How dare he take advantage of her! But there was no time to plot revenge, since I felt myself climax in Heero's mouth. "Uh... oh... ah!"

Heero sucked me dry, and lapped up any spunk that may have escaped his mouth. I pulled up my pants, and slid to the floor, too tired to fight back. Morbius certainly knew what he was doing. Then I felt a wavering in the power. I looked over, and from the look on his face, I assumed that Morbius was close to coming. Now was my chance!

I summoned as much power as I could, using all of Shinigami's techniques that I could think of. I shoved that power through Heero, in hopes of returning him to my side. He blinked. Then he looked at me, his glassy blue eyes returning to their original gleam. I sighed with relief.

I sighed too soon. His eyes returned to being glassy, and he kept his hold on me. So far, this entire trip has been pretty shitty. I should have stayed home today.

A low groan and higher pitched moans signaled Morbius' climax. He had his head laid back, petting Hilde as she cleaned him up. Then he smiled at me as Hilde put his pants and everything back into place.

"Now we're even, don't you think?" He had a wicked smiled on his face.

I just raised an eyebrow at him. "Let them go, you've had your fun," I said. "Why don't we fight, just us two, mano a mano."

He laughed that weird touchy-feely laugh again. I shuddered involuntarily. "A fight to the finish between two people, you might say?"  
"Yeah, that."  
"Sounds fair."  
"It sure does. So what do ya say?"  
"No."  
"WHAT?"

At that point, I was pretty outraged. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised. Since when do the bad guys play by the rules? I tried breaking past the Heero barrier, but Heero was still stronger, and I didn't want to hurt him by pulling on my dark powers. I looked back and forth, between Hilde, Morbius, and Heero. How was I gonna get out of this without killing my lover and my surrogate sister?

Then suddenly, Heero and Hilde fell to their knees, the second time that night. I felt a familiar presence, and I felt a smile creeping onto my face.

"Morbius, you need to learn some manners," said the familiar voice.

It figures. The son gets to be bailed out by the father.

"Shinigami," I said. He nodded in my direction. I closed my eyes and took back control of Heero and Hilde. Well, not really 'took back control', it was more like I put them back in control of themselves. They stood back up, and Heero let go of me. He looked as if he had just woken from a dream. Maybe it was more like a nightmare.

"Duo? I'm sorr"

I put a finger against his lips, hushing him. "Don't worry, it wasn't your fault," I said gently. "I wasn't strong enough to stop him, so it's really more like my fault."

His lip twitched slightly into a small smile before returning to that stone face that I've known for so long. We both turned towards Shinigami and Morbius. Hilde joined us, standing to my left. Heero stood to my right, so we made an ominous looking trio.

"Stay out of this Duo," I heard Shinigami say. "This turned out to be my fight after all."

Not wanting to disobey him, and the fact that Morbius was much more stronger than me, I stepped back. But I was prepared to help him if, more like _when_ Morbius would cheat. The bad guys never played by the rules. Hilde and Heero fell in step with me on either side, mirroring my movements like eerie shadows. I leaned back against the wall, and they did the same. The battle for the Shadow Lands, and my world as well, had just begun.

The forces of darkness and evil were pitted against each other. You'd think that darkness and evil were the same thing, but when you look on them in a different light, the darkness isn't really evil, and the evil isn't always dark. [5]

Shinigami and Morbius floated into the air, their powers flowing around them in circles of blue and green, respectively. They circled each other, like rival wolves in a fight to the finish. This was going to be a fight to the finish, a battle royale of which the likes of which would probably never be seen again for a while. Then the real power contest began.

Their powers heightened, and then they summoned their weapons out of midair. They were ancient weapons, a sword for Morbius and a scythe for Shinigami. The sword had a red aura of its own, and was shaped like an old broadsword, with a red jewel embedded in its hilt. Shinigami's scythe was glowing green, with a blade the length of my leg and a golden staff with silver snakes winding around the bottom and top. It looked a lot better than my piece of crap excuse for a weapon. The only thing I could take pride in was that it was built with gundanium, and it was state of the art. Take that you archaic weapons! Yeah, that was pretty pathetic, but I'm not going to have my pride stepped on like some old welcome mat.

I watched in wonder and awe as they clashed for dominance. It was an elegant dance, almost. They swung their weapons in perfect arcs, and swung at each other with the grace and fury of a tiger hunting its prey. They dodged and evaded the attacks with precision and ease. Those attacks would have left a normal man shaking. It made me kind of jealous.

"You'll never win," Shinigami said over the loud clanging of their weapons.

"I certainly won't let you win," Morbius replied with a smirk before feigning an overhead strike. Even I saw it coming. Shinigami moved to block it, and realized too late that he had bluffed. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, as things often do when something dramatic happens.

The sword stabbed through Shinigami's chest.

"SHINIGAMI!"

He fell.

The great lord of Shadow Lands fell to the ground, his blood flowing from his wounds like a miniature fountain of blood as Morbius pulled his sword out. I ran to him, Hilde and Heero tailing me.

"Shinigami... dammit!" I had not known him for long, but he had proven that he was my father, if not in blood which I still doubted, but in spirit. I looked down at him, suddenly regretting having not spent more quality time with him.

He reached up and touched my cheek. "Hurry son, get him... for the throne..."

In the midst of my rage and grief, I heard an evil laughter ringing in my ears. I looked up at Morbius while he laughed his goddamned ass off.

"Oh, that's rich. Ha! You think your little pipsqueak of a son can defeat me, after I defeated you?" He laughed some more. "Face it old man, your reign is over. Morbius is the new king!"

He sauntered over to me and took my chin in his hand. He looked at Shinigami and spit on his body. "See your little boy? He's gonna be my favorite whore!" He pulled me in for a kiss.

Then he flew twenty feet and landed back on his throne. He stood gracefully and looked at the attacker.

"When you fuck with Master, you fuck with me," Heero said ominously. "Omae o korosu."

I just love it when he says that.

Morbius wiped his lip, and looked at his hand. "Bl... blood?" He looked up, a rage that was previously unseen had lit in his eyes, making them glow with an unholy fire. "You will pay for that, little boy." He disappeared before me, and I couldn't sense him anywhere. Heero, on the other hand, was staring straight ahead, as if he hadn't moved. Where the hell did he go?

Suddenly Morbius appeared between me and Heero. He went for Heero's throat, but Heero was fast and moved quickly. I took another look at Shinigami. He gave me a weak smile and nodded. I turned to Hilde. "Take care of him," I said before pulling out my gun, the Browning, from its shoulder holster. I threw off my jacket and the holster. I wouldn't be needing it. I slipped the one extra clip into my jeans pocket, and I was ready. The expandable scythe was hooked to my belt.

Shinigami had told me to rely more on my powers than on some simple toys like my gun. But sometimes, a little firepower works wonders. I leaped into the fray, ready to kick some ass. I reached out to connect with Heero, and soon, I could also see Morbius's movements. I shot at him, but he was really fast. I soon ran out of bullets without getting a single shot. I had nicked him on a few occasions, but that was about it. I guess Daddy was right.

Heero was throwing all sorts of energy blasts at Morbius, but Morbius blocked all of his shots with a fling of his hand or with a movement of his sword. I pulled out my scythe and activated it. I swung it around, just for effect. I mentally told Heero to get the hell out of the way.

~_Move it, Heero._~  
~_But I want to help._~  
~_Too bad. Haul your ass out of the way._~  
~_But..._  
~_No arguing. Get out of the way!_~

I leapt into the battle, nearly slicing Morbius with my scythe. Had he purposely stayed close so I would feel a sense of triumph and let my guard down, or was I really that fast?

I decided on the former, because he smirked when I whirled around, my scythe cutting thin air. "You think your little toy can match mine?", he said with a sadistic glee in his voice. He held up his sword, and flew at me, the blade in front of him as if it would grow teeth and bite me. I raised my scythe to block, and to my horror, it was sliced in half. I quickly jumped out of the way, but not fast enough. I felt the stinging cut before saw the blood fly off my arm.

"Uhhg," I grunted painfully. My left arm was pretty sliced up. I looked at the remains of my thermal scythe and sighed. Well, that was the end of fighting with weapons.

~_Use your father's scythe..._~  
~_Heero?_~  
~_Close your eyes and summon it. I'll protect you..._~

I stepped back and closed my eyes, willing Shinigami's scythe to me. I held my hands in front of me and wished for it. I heard battle sounds in front of me, I felt the pain in my arm, and I nearly lost my concentration.

~_Focus Duo, focus..._~

I felt something form before me, its presense pulling at my senses. I opened my eyes and there it was, glowing blue. It was the same scythe, different color aura. I didn't have time to ask questions. I grabbed it and lunged after Morbius.

Heero must have been completely in sync with my actions, for he dodged out of the way as I drove my scythe towards the bastard. His sword tried to block, but I let loose a shockwave of power. The evil red glowing sword snapped in half, then dissipated into thin air.

Morbius staggered back, and clutched at his heart. "How... how can this be?" He was quite shocked, and I felt a little better about myself. Then he laughed his annoying touchy-feely laugh again. "No matter. I can defeat you with my power alone."

Then I felt the hot tsunami of power shudder over me. I gritted my teeth, dropped my scythe and threw a shield around me, but it wasn't enough. My power started to waver, and I felt a crack in the shield. His power leaked in and stabbed at me.

All of a sudden, my blue tinted shield glowed purple. Heero was making his way behind me, and soon he had his arms around me, giving me his power.

"Heero, no!"  
"Why not? I love you."  
"Heero... I love you too."

So it wasn't exactly the time to be professing our love for each other. But it did make the shield stronger, and I felt it was time to keep the promise I made to rip out his throat. I slowly walked towards Morbius, a determined look on my face.

"You... will... die... you... stinking... bastard!" I said with each step, and with each passing moment I grew stronger, with Heero's power fueling mine. I silently told Heero to let go of me, and he did, reluctantly. But I could still feel his power wafting through me.

I smirked, and raised my hand. I gave him a 'come and get me' look, and gestured with my hands. "Come on, come get a piece of me. If you can handle it."

He laughed, thinking himself to be invincible. He lunged towards me and lashed out with his power. I reflected his power, and I drove my hand towards his throat. Concentrating my power, I reached out and grabbed it, moving faster than I ever have before. He gagged and fell to the ground.

"No way...," he muttered.

"Yes way," I replied. "And how." I tightened my grip and tore out his vocal cords. He started gasping. I dropped the bleeding organ to the ground, and shoved my hand into his chest. I reached for his heart and caressed it.

"Can you feel this?" I asked evily.  
"N... no..."

"Good." I squeezed it, just like I squeezed Murdida's heart. It crushed like a ripe tomato, and just as cold. I pulled my hand from his body, and the blood flowed black over my skin. I shook it off in shock.

A low gurgling sound alerted me. Morbius was still alive. Or undead. Whatever. He still moved, and was attempting to laugh with his broken vocal cords.

I kicked him aside. I didn't know what was keeping him alive. Then I felt a whisper in my mind... "Shinigami!"

~_Use... use the scythe..._~

I picked up the scythe and drove it into his chest. More blackness spewed forth, covering my own shirt with it. Fortunately my shirt was black, but it still was going to be a pain to clean out. I pulled out the scythe and swung it in an arc, aiming to lop off his head.

But Morbius lifted an arm and blocked it. His lips moved, but no sound came out except for that damn gurgling. Fortunately, I can read lips.

"Even if I die, my legacy will remain... Heaven is not all light and good!"

I think he was a raving lunatic. I pulled my scythe from his slippery grip and chopped off his arms. Then I took a good swing and his head went rolling. I rolled until it hit the wall, landing with a squishy thump onto the ground. His body lolled forwards and fell, a slushing sound accompanied by globules of his black blood flying here and there.

The nightmare was over.

* * *

[1]: "Chun-choy" means "stupid" in Cantonese...  
[2]: I kinda got this from Card Captor Sakura, but I'm Chinese too, so I know a bit about it. It's basically the five elements in the world, Metal (usually symbolized as gold), Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.  
[3]: Okay, I know the Chinese speakers are going to kill me... "wai" sounds like the Chinese word for "bad", and "yun" sounds like the Chinese word for "man" or "person". (Remember, this is Cantonese, I don't speak or understand a lick of Mandarin.) Well, you get the idea... *dodges rotten tomatoes...*  
[4]: Cantonese for Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth. They probably aren't romanized very well... ^^;;  
[5]: FORESHADOWING! I'm writing a sequel to this, if anyone's interested... remember this quote...

Ooh, I think Tokyo Babylon fans will recognize some of the stuff I put in there... Anyway, feel free to e-mail me your rants and raves, just don't cuss me out, okay?


	13. Epilogue

This is the Epilogue. The end is finally here. Took me friggin' long enough!  
~_blah_~ = thoughts, "blah" = talk  
This is my first GW fic series, there is violence, strong language and it has the yaoi pairings of Heero & Duo and Quatre & Trowa. So if you don't like male/male pairings, then don't read this, or pretend that Quatre and Duo are chicks. Okay?

**Eternity of Blood**

**Epilogue**

**By: Top Ace**

The nightmare was over.

And I collapsed to the ground, the feeling of relief overwhelming everything else. I walked a bit unsteadily towards Heero, Shinigami and Hilde. Heero came over and put my arm around his shoulder and put his arm around my waist to balance me. I looked at Shinigami. His wound... there was no returning from a wound like that.

"Shin... Father..."

He chuckled, and gestured for me to come closer. "My son... Duo... I regret... having not spent more time with you..."  
"Me too."  
"I have something to give to you."  
"What is it?"

Shinigami closed his eyes and held up his right hand. A sphere of pure blue light appeared. [1] He handed it to me. "Take this, my power, and my title as Shinigami, God of the Dead."

"I... I can't..."  
"Dammit, I trained you to be my heir. You can't back out now!"

I smiled, and took the ball of power. I looked at it, and then I came up with a decision.

"How about I share this?"

Shinigami asked, "With who?"

I offered the ball to none other than... Hilde. "Hilde, you've always been like a sister to me. We might as well share the power like siblings should."

You all thought I was going to give it to Heero, didn't you? But Hilde really deserved it. She could manage the Shadow Lands; she was a good leader and she had organizing skills that nearly surpassed Quatre's. Besides, I was planning on staying above ground, thank you. While Heero is my lover and all, I don't think he would have liked to be separated from me all the time. So Hilde was the most logical choice.

Hilde looked up at me, shock written all over her face. She looked from me, to the sphere, then back to me. A smile cracked her face, and she held up her hands. "Sure, BROTHER, why not?" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Shinigami smile as we both put our hands on the sphere and its power surged through us. It was like being the ZERO system all over again...

I don't remember passing out, but I must have. I also didn't feel it when Shinigami passed on. I must have been out cold when he did. I think he made me pass out on purpose. I probably would have done the same thing; I wouldn't want my son to feel my death. However, the after effects of his death still touched me, like the ripples in a pond. You might not have felt the initial impact, but the waves that came from it still hit you.

I looked over at his dead body, and knew that now, I was well and truly an orphan. I tried not to cry, but a stray tear fell anyways. Warm fingers wiped it away. I sat up and looked at Heero. He looked normal. I mean, before the car accident that started all of this insanity. I silently wondered why.

~_The power of resurrection..._~

I heard Shinigami's voice coming to me from the other side. I knew he wasn't gone completely.

"Father..."

~_Duo, with the power you have gained, you can fully resurrect Heero. He can be human again..._~  
"I sense a 'but' coming."  
~_Heh. Yes, there is a drawback. All the memories, all the events that have come to pass while he has been a vampire will be erased. He won't remember anything._~  
"Dammit."

Hilde and Heero looked at me strangely, as if I was talking to myself. Then I realized that it did seem like I was talking to myself, because they couldn't hear Shinigami. Only I could, and only I could decide Heero's fate. What a decision. I drew Heero over to me, and we sat across from each other, staring into each other's eyes. I imagined the times, the memories, the time on the dining room table when I took his virginity and made him mine...

No. I couldn't erase those memories. I gingerly touched his cheek, and he leaned into my touch, his eyes closing and a small smile lighting his face. I didn't want to start all over again. I didn't care about the fact that he was still unstable. I wanted him the way he was, the way... the way I had made him. It was kind of a selfish decision, so I took a deep breath and asked him.

"Heero... I can make you alive again. I can make you human again."  
"No."  
"You didn't even hear the drawback, and you already have your answer?"  
"Vampires can read minds, remember?"

I had forgotten... again. So he knew... his memories would be erased. "So... you want to keep me as your master?"  
"Of course, baka."

I smiled at his little pet name for me. Of course, it meant idiot in Japanese, but I kinda liked it. I pulled him into my arms for a warm hug. He hugged me back, and we sat like that, enjoying each other's embrace.

"Ahem."  
"Whoops. Sorry Hilde, guess I got carried away in the moment. You want me to resurrect you?"  
"Nah, I kinda like having powers. Besides, if you resurrect me, who's gonna take care of the Shadow Lands?"  
"Yeah... eh? How...?"  
"Mind reading, remember? Besides, Shinigami told me while you guys were fighting. Said it was a lovely place. Kinda dark with lots of strange creatures. Sounds good to me."

I laughed at Hilde's last remark. Things were finally beginning to look up. But where were the others? Were they okay? I quickly got up.

"Oh crap! The guys! Where...? Never mind."

As I was panicking, Trowa and Quatre walked in, supporting a beaten and battered Wufei.

"Hey you guys, did we miss all the fun?" Quatre asked.

I smiled, ran to hug them, and we all had a great reunion.

I looked back at Shinigami's body. It suddenly glowed greenish-blue, then dissipated into a million sparkling lights.

"Rest in peace, dad."

It's been five weeks. Five weeks of complete and utter boredom.

I finally got around to selling my apartment, and now Heero and I live in a house on the edge of town, not far away from Quatre's mansion and Wufei's house. We all got together on occasion to relax and enjoy each other's company. The girls didn't seem to mind. In fact, I think they had their own agenda.

On a nice day at the end of July, Hilde came to visit. It wasn't exactly unexpected; she entered my dreams the night before to tell me. I guess she really is starting to act like Shinigami, since she did take his title and all. When I opened the door, she had a cloak, loose black pants and a black tank top. She had a smirk on her face. I knew she was up to something.

"What do you want?"  
"What a way to greet your sister."  
"Ha ha, very funny. C'mere!"

She tackled me, and we crashed to the ground, laughing. We got back up and we went to the living room. I tossed her a coke. "So, how are things goin'?"  
"Pretty well. Under my control, the Shadow Lands are becoming a prosperous place. I still haven't figured out all my powers yet, but the aides there are really helpful, and they respect me."  
"That's good."

We sat and talked for a few hours before she had to leave again. She told me she'd warn me before she came to visit again. I waved goodbye as she disappeared. It was kinda weird, she was there one moment, and then blink! She was gone.

That night, I had a dream.

"Duo..."  
"Dad?"

We were in that same field, with waist high grass and a small stream running through it. The sky was blue and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. A perfect day. I watched as Shinigami walked towards me, holding the hands of a beautiful woman. Her chestnut hair glimmered in the sunlight.

"M... mom?"  
"Duo, my son... you're so beautiful."  
I blushed. "There's so many things I want to say..."  
"You don't need to say anything. We can talk as much as you want when the time comes."  
"When the time...? Oh, when I pass away."  
"That won't be for a while, but I can wait. I'm sorry I wasn't there to raise you, but I love you, as all parents love their children."  
"It's okay mom, and I love you too, even though I've never met you."  
"I'm glad that you've managed to take care of yourself."  
"I... had a little help."  
"You have no idea how much I worried about you, how much I wanted to rush to Earth and gather you into my arms... but the rules in heaven...  
"It's okay, I understand."

She smiled, a smile like mine. It was so beautiful... I can see why Heero constantly calls me his 'Angel of Death' nowadays. My mother was the most beautiful angel I had ever seen. Well, I had only seen one real angel and that was her, but I was sure that no other angel was as pretty as her.

Shinigami coughed, bringing me back from my random musing.

"Son, we have to go now, but we came to visit you, just one last time. We'll see you again when your time comes, but until then, you take good care of yourself, and of the one you love." As he said those last few lines, he looked adoringly into my mother's eyes. They loved each other so much that their love was nearly tangible. It wove itself around me, and I breathed in the essence of their love. I just hoped Heero and I would have a love that would last forever and a day, like theirs.

They waved goodbye, and flew into the clouds. Once again, my parents had left me. But this time, it didn't feel so bad.

"See ya later, mom, dad. 'Till we meet again."

I woke up feeling happy, and not groggy. That was a miracle in of itself. Heero wondered why I was so cheerful. I told him about the dream. He just patted me on the head and got dressed. He didn't have to say anything; I knew he was happy for me.

After I had gotten dressed and eaten breakfast, I looked at the calendar in the kitchen. Today was a Saturday, the last day in the month of July. It was also one of my off days. I lounged back on the sofa and grabbed my game controller. Yes, I still had that game, Death's Story. I had played for an hour each Saturday, but today I finally decided I would beat the damn game and see the ending. Took me freaking long enough.

"Playing that game again?"  
"Quiet Heero, I'm concentrating."  
"Hn."

Three hours later, I finally had enough levels to beat Satan. I tossed the controller aside, sat back, and watched my hard earned ending. "It better be a good ending," I mumbled. Heero suddenly appeared and sat beside me, and pulled me into his arms.

"The ending?"  
"Shhh. Watch."

The words scrolled up, as the image of the main character and the mysterious woman in a shroud appeared. "He became an archangel and met the real angel of death, the woman who had been giving him secret help all this time." The woman's shroud disappeared to reveal a skin tight black outfit, and her flowing brown hair and green eyes took up part of the screen. "He fell in love with her at that instant, and they lived happily ever after..." They kissed, and a large "THE END" scrolled up.

"Not a bad ending, eh koi?"  
"Hn."  
"You gotta admit, that was a pretty cool movie."  
"Hn."  
"Fine, see if I care."  
"Duo?"  
"Yes?"

He pointed to the coffee table. There was an advertisement for 'Death's Story 2: A New Life.' I smiled and cuddled up to Heero.

"So... are you going to get that for me for Christmas?"  
"Baka."

* * *

[1]: It looks like a genki dama (spirit bomb) from Dragon Ball Z.

Wow, it's been a while... *looks at watch* Damn, it's been a long time... I wanna thank all my readers, I want to thank all those who replied and stayed with me this entire time... *bows* Domo Arigato Gozaimasu!

Feel free to e-mail me your rants and raves, just don't cuss me out, okay?


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